As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, maybe it’s time to consider a little less known holiday which is steadily becoming ‘holy’ to a group of culture jammers; a community now over one-hundred-thousand strong worldwide. I’m talking about Buy Nothing Day. Founded by Kalle Lasn, the chief editor of Adbusters magazine, fifteen years ago, Buy Nothing Day falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving—known as Black Friday—in North America and the Saturday following it, worldwide. Founded in Vancouver, Buy Nothing Day attempts to point out the error of over-consumption and, well, let Kalle Lasn explain it:
“So much emphasis,” he notes, “has been placed on buying carbon offsets and compact fluorescent lightbulbs and hybrid cars that we are losing sight of the core cause of our environmental problems: we consume far too much.”
“Buy Nothing Day isn't just about changing your routine for one day. It’s about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment. With over six billion people on the planet, it is the responsibility of the most affluent – the upper 20% that consumes 80% of the world’s resources – to set out on a new path.”
In North America, predominantly in the United States, Black Friday is referred to as such, because of the crowds, traffic, and consumerism surrounding the first major sales of the Christmas buying season. Recently, the sale prices have become so competitive, that stores such as Wal-Mart and Target have begun to claim their sale prices as intellectual copyright property; allowing them to attempt to sue websites which deflate their sales by posting the prices ahead of time.
Adbusters encourages a broad group of displays and protests when participating; that is, participating by not participating; as the slogan of the anti-holiday has become. In recent years these displays have become more creative in visual and abstract display. Massive zombie walks, credit card cut ups, consumerism counseling, and my personal favorite; a ten man conga line of non-purchasing, cart pushing, shoppers.
Take note, you do not have to go out and get involved in these activities—which have led to at best, security guard annoyance, and at worst, arrest—but think about participating by not participating. Think about it. In fact just think. Just think for a moment about what you’re purchasing, and why you’re purchasing it. And, you may realize that spending some time with your family in the comfort of your home, the park, or a library, may be time more well spent, than milling about mindlessly in an over-crowded mall looking for that next…what the hell do you want anyways? Probably, just something.
Hit the jump, and use Adbusters’ easy to follow action pyramid, to get as involved as you see fit.
This story was sent in by Brady Fullerton.
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