Buy Nothing Day, held each year in North America on November 28th and internationally on November 29th, is an one day moratorium on shopping, a 24 hour consumer fast. November 28th is also commonly referred to as Black Friday (or Blitz Day), the first day of the Christmas shopping season where big box retail stores encourage individuals to start shopping. Buy Nothing Day was originally created by Adbusters Magazine in Vancouver, Canada in response to the frenzy of shopping that starts the day after American Thanksgiving and continues until Christmas.
What started as a small event has exploded into a worldwide phenomenon where individuals work to raise awareness about the need to lessen consumption through a series of protests, street theatre events, billboards, and shopping interventions at malls and markets at cities and towns around the globe. In 2007, Buy Nothing Day took place in more than 60 countries around the world.
We have prepared a few simple tips for Buy Nothing Day newcomers to encourage you to break the shopping addiction and join the growing, global anti-consumerism community.
Buy Nothing
This is the whole point of Buy Nothing Day – don’t buy anything for 24 hours. This doesn’t mean just avoiding a full-on shopping spree, it means that you attempt to go one day without buying a coffee, gasoline, lunch, a yoga class, etc. One full day without buying anything, for some people this will be a lot more difficult than you think. However it is important that we reduce our consumption. The Story of Stuff reports that in the USA more than 99% of stuff that people buy ends up in the garbage within 6 months of purchase.
Leave Money At Home
Leave all money, bankcards and credit cards at home. For many individuals this will make them feel a bit naked or vulnerable. However, it is important to gradually lessen your dependence on allowing money to feel safe or having your buying ‘power’ as a primary component of your identity.
...in many respects, shopaholics are a lot like people with eating disorders. A few liken the experience to a drug trip; others find their shopping trips sexually stimulating.
Pack What You Need
Prepare all food and beverages at home that you will need for the day.Bringing your food and beverages with you will eliminate knee-jerk spending, i.e. you are thirsty and need bottled water. It will also help you to understand how much money we waste on conveniences like coffee, take out food and bottled water. Last but not least, you will significantly reduce your daily carbon footprint when you eliminate take-out trash and plastic from bottled water.
The Think Outside The Bottle Campaign encourages people to return to the tap. Their campaign estimates that meeting Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil a year– enough fuel to operate more than 1 million US cars for one year – and generates more than 2.5 million tons of CO2.
Don’t Go Into Stores
Depending on your depth of addiction, or susceptibility to the billions of advertising dollars that are spent in the USA to encourage you to buy things you don’t want or need, it is probably best to avoid all stores or malls. Most malls are unnatural environments, deliberately designed to lure you in and keep you there. Lights are overly bright, exits are not clearly posted, there are no clocks and the mall layout is designed to keep you walking in circles while you continue to consume.
Psychology Today writes that, “…in many respects, shopaholics are a lot like people with eating disorders. A few liken the experience to a drug trip; others find their shopping trips sexually stimulating.” Overspending is also linked to low self-esteem, as the act of purchasing is believed to create temporary feelings of self-importance and self-worth.
Do Free Things
Find one free fun thing to do on Buy Nothing Day. This might be a free movie at a local museum, a community group that gives out free coffee, a lunchbag chat at a local school or university, or consider volunteering on your lunch hour at a soup kitchen. Finding things to do that are free will introduce you to some new people in your community and remind you that there is an entire world out there that doesn’t involve consuming.
Spread The Word
Tell one person about Buy Nothing Day. The Buy Nothing Day movement has, in large part, been a grassroots' movement. Individuals and groups around the world have worked to spread the message that buying doesn’t make you happy. Tell someone in your office or at school, write about it on your blog and text or e-mail your friends. You can find everything you need to help spread the word at: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd
Read our interview with Adbusters Magazine founder and director Kalle Lasn.
Show/Hide comment form
