Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day.

From Adbusters.org:

Every November 25, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop, we make a small choice to participate by not participating. We call it Buy Nothing Day, and judging by the huge successes seen all across the globe last year – with thousands of activists and fed-up citizens taking part in dozens of countries – this year’s festival of restraint could be the biggest yet.

If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point people in the direction of real and effective alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?

From Wikipedia:

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine. Participants refrain from purchasing anything for 24 hours in a concentrated display of consumer power. The event is intended to raise awareness of what some see as the wasteful consumption habits of First World countries. Activists may also participate in culture jamming activities like the Whirl-Mart and other forms of radical expression. It is also used to protest materialism and bandwagon appeals.

In the United States and Canada, supporters demonstrate on the day after American Thanksgiving. This day, often called “Black Friday,” is one of the busier shopping days of the year (though not in Canada, but the date remains there to synchronize events). In other countries the demonstrations occur a day later.

Since “Buy Nothing Day” occurs the day after American Thanksgiving, and the meaning of Buy Nothing Day is to resist mindless consumerism, some people have viewed Buy Nothing Day as an opportunity to expose the “hypocrisy” of the Thanksgiving weekend. Since Thanksgiving has always had an emphasis on friends, family and community, while the day after Thanksgiving has more recently had an emphasis on consumerism and shopping, “Buy Nothing Day” may be seen by some protesters as a way of reclaiming the ‘original meaning’ of Thanksgiving: encouraging friends and family to socialize instead of encouraging individual income-earners to spend their money.

Of course, others include the material provision associated with the annual harvest in their Thanksgiving, and welcome the pre-Christmas sales as an opportunity both to provide for the needs of those they love, and to give generously rather than keep what they’ve earned to themselves. On their view, merchants provide valuable goods and services, a sale day serves both buyer and seller, and the Thanksgiving to Christmas season presents both a temptation to materialism and an opportunity for the proper enjoyment of material blessings coupled with a special effort to ensure that the poorest are not excluded.

Critics of “Buy Nothing Day” point out that consumers would simply buy more the next day instead, rendering their protest pointless. However, participants argue that this is false.