Black Friday is traditionally the most important day of the year for U.S. retailers, and they've been trying to make the day last as long as possible by opening stores earlier. Last year, many stores opened at midnight, and Wal-mart opened at 10pm on Thanksgiving. This year, stores are expanding Black Friday hours even more - Toys R Us, Sears and Wal-mart all are opening as early as 8pm on Thanksgiving. The earlier openings have drawn some online protests, as well as petitions and protests from employees.

Akshay Rao, General Mills chair in marketing at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, joins the Daily Circuit to discuss the retail industry's never-ending quest to lure consumers.

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