What Does Buy Nothing Day Mean this Holiday Season?

by josiemitchell | November 25, 2008 at 03:45 pm

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When I was growing up my mother worked in a small local book and gift store. I would always go there after school and sit in the back room watching the employees dart about. This is where I learned about Black Friday, the Friday after American Thanksgiving and one of the U.S.'s biggest shopping days. All Thanksgiving dinner my mom would be dreading having to go to work the next morning, because the store would be packed, tinny Christmas music would be blaring and she'd have to ring up countless useless knick-knacks that would cost hundreds of dollars. "Innane" is a word that crept onto the Thankgiving dinner table again and again.

In 1992, in response to this over-consumerism, Vancouver based artist and activist, Ted Dave, orchestrated the event Buy Nothing Day. It was quickly taken up and promoted by Canadian magazine Adbusters. Now the demonstration is protested annually around the world on Black Friday (though internationally the date doesn't always fall on this Friday, but usually close to it).

Suddenly, we ran out of money and, to avoid collapse, we quickly pumped liquidity back into the system. But behind our financial crisis a much more ominous crisis looms: we are running out of nature… fish, forests, fresh water, minerals, soil. What are we going to do when supplies of these vital resources run low?

There’s only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.

It will take a massive mindshift. You can start the ball rolling by buying nothing on November 28th. Then celebrate Christmas differently this year, and make a New Year’s resolution to change your lifestyle in 2009.

It’s now or never!

So this is what you do: buy nothing. Pass on that coffee, Tuperware your lunch, forego the visit to the mall. Easy, well easy-ish. Mainly the day is meant to make people conscious of their spending habits.

There is some controversy surrounding the demonstration though. Take for example people who hadn't bought anything the day before and the day before that and most likely won't be able to buy anything for the next few days after Buy Nothing Day. Though Adbusters likes to emphasize that this is a global problem, how global is it?

Tyee writer Jean Ferrel explores what Buy Nothing Day means to her.

As a mom myself, and at one point, a single welfare mom, I can't help but remember my own "buy nothing" days all too well. Now that I actually earn some money and creep ever closer to the happy side of the poverty line, I'm beyond grateful that I'm able to buy something every day if I need to. I don't ever want to go back to diluting the milk for my cereal with water, thanks very much.

So who is Buy Nothing Day really for? It's certainly not for most wealthy, high consumers, who largely couldn't give a toot what the hoi polloi are protesting about now. And it's not for those who are already not buying anything and long to escape those circumstances. So that leaves Whitey McPrivileged, who can check to make sure he's got enough toilet paper and tea bags in the house before the big day. And while the campaign ostensibly acts as a springboard to creating more lasting change, I bet a lot of participants breathe a sigh of relief the next morning, when they can get back to business as usual. Remind me again how this changes anything?

This is an important point but there's also the issue of middle class families that might depend on Black Friday deals to make it through the Christmas financial squeeze. While my mom always hated working Black Friday, she was always quick to remind herself that this was the day that paid her paychecks.

Important to keep in mind too this particular holiday season is the economic situation at hand; this year's Christmas squeeze is going to be pretty tight. Lots of middle class families, who are keeping an eye on their pocket books will want to use Black Friday deals to save a few bucks. And businesses trying to kick start the economy will be putting on a lot of sales.

I mean even Apple is said to be conducting Black Friday deals. And that's big!

Apple will be holding a one-day shopping event on Black Friday, according to a teaser up on Apple's Web site. Every sale on the Apple Store is an event, as it happens very rarely, and discounts on Apple products are meager throughout the year.

What will this mean for this year's Buy Nothing Day? Will the day really make the difference it says it will? We'll just have to wait and see...

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talentedchimp

at 16:23 on November 25th, 2008

Unfortunately, the whole concept of consume less is anathema to the nation-sized corporations who must expand and sell more to satisfy their owners' desires for yet more profit.

This kind of campaign would fall on deaf ears in Korea where I live, where one's status is defined by how much one spends.

Amy Judd

at 16:31 on November 25th, 2008

I think definitely people will be buying less on this day, just because of the current economy, but as for buy nothing - I think that's not really going to happen; some of the deals will just be too good to miss. I am going to take part however, except for a transit pass, which I will have to buy on that day...

Gamma Infinity

at 16:35 on November 25th, 2008

I can't see BND hurting Main Street, since people have another 364 (actually 365 this year) days to spend themselves into perpetual credit card debt, or even buy necessities. Far as the sales go, wait until nearer Christmas and the prices will go down again, whether or not they advertise this. The stores have until the close of calendar 2008 to break into the black, even though they want us to think that America is over if we don't line up at 3 AM on Friday.

And what kind of a stupid system sets itself up to demand a mass hysteria event every November just to keep itself solvent? This is almost as stupid as lending money to people who can't afford to pay it back, then basing securities on the resulting bad debt. And we know where THAT got us, and how much it's going to cost to fix, which equals thousands of Black Fridays taken out of the economy for decades to come.

And keep in mind that there have been news reports of people ALREADY lined up as of Monday night, so I doubt that poor little Buy Nothing Day will ever threaten Our American Way Of Life. BF is not a sales event, it's a pilgrimage. Fear not, the country will remain strong and free for another year, secure in the massive transfer of middle class income to large corporations that pay their CEOs 50x what employees get.

Paschen

at 20:39 on November 25th, 2008

Adam Purple

at 17:15 on November 26th, 2008

It's really disturbing to think that some promote, as a cure to our financial crisis, increased consumption, consumer spending, and the easy flow of credit. Ever-higher spirals of consumption simply cannot continue indefinitely.

dmeemai

at 22:06 on November 27th, 2008

While I applaud the Buy Nothing Day campaign and what it stands for, it is just but a concept if nothing else for majority of the consumers- meaning the campaign won't see actual, real effect because it is an impossible task. With or without the BND campaign, it has to come from every individual. Their own decision and conviction. It is a choice they have to make depending on their circumstances. Can they or can they not afford to spend? Do they want to max out their credit cards or not? Do they want to sink further down into their debt hole or not?

People can't simply pledge NOT to buy anything on the biggest sale day of the year on Black Fridays (BF) when the Christmas holidays is just around the corner... Sure, the capitalists 'manipulate' consumers. How do you beat a 40-year old BF "tradition" and the thousands of dollar ad campaigns spent by retailers luring people to shop on Black Fridays? But that's another story.

I have been going to Black Fridays for 4 years and yes the worse things I ever did was line up at the store at 2am one time and show up on Thanksgiving night at one store for their pre-black Friday sales at 7pm in pouring rain and freezing cold on another!

This year however is different. These are hard times so I am sleeping in Friday. It is a personal choice because I can't afford to be 'tempted' by unnecessary buys (although I will still be looking for bargains online). I still am not joining the Buy Nothing Day campaign because things could be different for me next year and I may go shop on Black Friday!

BND like all crusades is something you have to really believe in and commit to personally without being hypocritical and as a (smart!) shopper, I can not support it-- in the same way I can never be a PETA advocate or become a Vegan because I like my meat, thank you very much!

Milieunet

at 23:43 on November 28th, 2008

That means nothing. Nice activity that is all.

People just go shopping on another day.

What really helps is changing our attitude. Buy what you need, do not buy what you like. That will help and save lots of money too.

An American in Lima

at 04:50 on December 4th, 2008

Thanks for the introduction to Buy Nothing Day; I didn't know about this holiday / movement.

In its own way, it is revolutionary because it challenges the foundation of modern North American societies -- that they are composed of consumers rather than citizens. One has only to be unemployed and penniless in the United States (where I used to live) to realize how instrinsic "buying" is to one's relations with other people, and also to one's self-worth as an American.

I moved to Peru a year and a half ago, and one thing I've experienced is an incredible freedom from the mandate to buy, buy, buy. Black Friday doesn't exist in Peru (there is no Thanksgiving Day to initiate it). We have far fewer consumer goods here and they cost more than they do in the U.S., so people don't go on a spending orgie at Xmas. Yes, people buy presents, but they don't purchase many big ticket items like plasma TVs and vacuum cleaners.

I applaud the idea of BND. If North Americans can apply this philosophy year round, then it will truly help people.