Friday November 25, 2005, is Buy Nothing Day. The idea is to show that you have enough strength not to be a consumer for a single day. It's tougher than it sounds.
I plan to take this year's day of anti-consumerism seriously. I have already postponed a planned purchase of a sports bra from Friday to Saturday. In the end, I'm still buying a sport bra, but if enough people postponed their shopping, a blip would appear on the financial records of the retail industry. It's the equivalent of an overly firm handshake, or an uncomfortable silence, or a faint whiff of urine in your order of soup.
For some, politely ignoring the problem is not enough - only shit disturbance will do. AdBusters suggests a few ways to culture-jam. My favourite is:
- Don lab coats and quietly push empty shopping carts up and down Wal-Mart aisles. Or fill your carts with junk and buy it all."On buy nothing day?" you ask. Yes. Did you know that Walmart has a guaranteed return policy? (under $25.00) Get your refund and start again. And again. And again. The line-ups can get a bit long, but hey, it's a great opportunity to talk with shoppers.
All this before the biggest consumer frenzy of the year. But AdBusters has thought of the holidays, too. They have available for download a Holiday Gift Exemption Voucher from the Buy Nothing Committee, which two people can fill out to make the the exchange of gifts officially void.
I think this takes things a bit too far. It's a thoughtful gesture to exchange gifts, and not all gifts need be bought. For instance, I would like a nice homemade scarf, about 3 feet long, quite wide, not itchy, bright colours (hint hint).
2 comments:
Not only is it Buy Nothing Day, it is also Black Friday. This is the busiest shopping day in the United States. A co-worker of mine took the day off just to go down to Buffalo to buy stuff (now that's dedication). I intend to buy nothing that day, but it's gonna be hard...that Xbox 360 is looking mighty tempting.
I used to observe Buy Nothing Day, but I realized that there are a lot of days when I don't buy anything. The day itself is to remind people that it's not so bad to restrain your consumerism. We are bombarded with advertising that tells us to spend ourselves into debt.
That being said, I follow this philosophy most of the time (when I'm not on vacation) so I'm going to skip out on Buy Nothing Day to go to Canadian Tire. May the gods of the anti-globalization movement forgive me!
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