Used to love both Star Wars and Star Trek. But the most recent incarnations of both franchises has been so bad that it's soured me on both IPs.

I hadn't even heard about such "holiday" before, or then I've forgotten.

Doesn't matter, Star Wars sucks, especially nowadays with its Mary Sue protagonist. The same for Star Trek.

Yep. You do realize it was a holiday long before Star Wars appeared?
EDIT - On investigation it seems I misremembered, and was confusing May the 4th with July the 4th. I knew we here in AUS did not celebrate such a holiday, but thought others did. Anyway, my points still stand, that one excepted. In any case, the OP is wrong too, it is a celebration not a holiday.

And 'May the 4th' is a play on 'May the force' be with you.

So really it is about the date not the holiday, which is kind of just a coincidence. I'm sure we would still have Star Wars related happenings on May the 4th even if it wasn't a holiday.

And it is a huge franchise that many still get excited about elements of.

No-one says you have to celebrate it, and I certainly don't.
All the date means to me really, is the possibility of grabbing a new Star Wars release at GOG ... though I have been let down a few times now. So its not like they are milking it exactly.

I'm also not really seeing the free publicity for Disney aspect either. Folk are either into Star Wars or they aren't. Disney just happen to be the ones to benefit from it right now, and they paid a ton to get that benefit, so you really can't blame them for trying to get back some of their outlay ... and I say that as someone who is certainly not feeling very enamored of modern day Disney, who have screwed a lot of things.

It is not a Holiday, just another international day of something.
Like today is World Hand Hygiene Day. Remember to wash your hands, folks!

As Valen said to young Luke: live long and prosper, don't troll let other people have some fun.

And don't forget your Towelie (and yes, we got a day for that too)

So, on that day, are we supposed to eat tuna, or abstain from eating tuna (because of over fishing)?

A little history on "Star Wars Day" (4th of May):

First organized celebration of "Star Wars Day" took place on May, 4th 2011.
Second organized celebration of "Star Wars Day" took place on May, 4th 2012.

These dates are important, because Disney only purchased Lucasfilm (aka: the rights to Star Wars) on October, 30th 2012 - which is either five months or almost one and a half years AFTER "Star Wars Day" had become an official thing (depending on how you count).

So, by saying something like: "Since when do we give massive corporations like Disney a free day out of the year to jam their merchandise down our throats?", you are massively missing your target.

It was not Disney, who made this day a thing - it was Star Wars fans.
And not just ANY fans - but Canadian fans. (I'm not kidding - look it up)
You - as Canadians - certainly recognize the irony here?

Apart from that: "Star Wars Day" is (to the best of my little knowledge) not a holiday (as in "a day where most people don't have to go to work"), with maybe the excemption of California, which made it an official holiday in 2019 (not sure about the "work free" part, though).

For most parts, it's simply a day, that a certain group(!) of people enjoys celebrating.

"Star Wars Day" gets celebrated (by some!) in the same way as "International Towel Day" (May 35th) gets celebrated (by some!) since 2001, in remembrance of Douglas Adams.

Also: what about "Steve Jobs Day" (October, 16th)?
Or "Free Comic Book Day" (first Saturday in May)?
"Tolkien Reading Day" (March, 25th)?

Don't you count these as "a free day for massive corporations to ram their merch down our throats"?
And if not: why not?

Apart from all of that: why not simply do, what I do - and ignore the whole shebang?
It's 24 hours, after which life goes on, as if nothing had happened.
Live and let live (long and prosper). ;)

Star Wars was a cultural phenomenon before Disney bought it. It was something people immersed themselves in since the 80's. It's not about Disney, but celebrating a cultural icon that you've had your entire life, no matterwho owns it. Star Wars is bigger than Disney. Star Wars is not Disney's in the minds of most people. It's their own. Disney just owns the rights to make more of it right now.

For those of you saying that it's not a "Holiday", you are clearly grasping at straws. It doesn't matter if it's officially recognized as a Holiday by your government or some other authority, it's still widely recognized as a holiday by the general public. When someone says "Happy Star Wars Day", that tells you everything you need to know.

Also, those of you who are denying the fact that this is just free publicity for Disney are grasping at straws. It doesn't matter if the holiday began before Disney bought the franchise, or that the franchise began with a different company. When it comes down to it, Disney OWNS Star Wars, and this is the corporation that benefits from this stupid holiday. I actually feel the same way about March 10th, which is slowly becoming Mario Day. I love the Mario franchise more than most games, but I refuse to be a part of any Mario celebration on March 10th, because no game, movie, product or franchise deserves it's own holiday. It's that simple.

Translation: "how dare you telling me, I'm in the wrong here?"

Okey dokey.

Have a nice 5th of May.

It is not a holiday (at least not in my country), and the general public is probably not aware of it. It is an inside joke among Star Wars fans. Admittedly one that gets really old, as the franchise is pretty much dead and buried by now but as GoG sells those old Star Wars games and there is some sale basically every week they could have come up with worse ideas, imho.

Good. Use your aggressive feelings boy! Let the hate flow through you!

If it gets you a day off sodding work, it's fine by me!

This topic really doesn't anger from me at all, I'm simply venting my annoyance with a dumb new holiday. You can point out the stupidity of something without getting angry, but often times it comes across as anger (welcome to the Internet folks). If you want to celebrate May 4th as Star Wars day, then by all means feel free, I just think it's lame.