Last year I saw a campaign started by Adbusters urging people to buy nothing on Nov. 28 in the United States and Nov. 29 internationally. Being in the anti-corporate, angsty mood I was in, I immediatly created a Facebook event for Buy Nothing Day, and invited all my friends to keep their money in their pockets.
This Thanksgiving, my thinking has changed. The idea behind the Buy Nothing Day campaign is something I support, yet I don’t think one day out of the year will get Americans to change their spending habits. According to Adbusters founder Kalle Lassn, we consume five times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than an average Chinese person, and and 30 times more than a person from India. As a result of our consumption, we are the main contributors to landfills, deforestation, and pollution. This, in addition to our gas consumption, makes us one of the most irresponsible cultures on the planet.
So why attack Black Friday? It’s because it is the one day where millions of Americans wait in lines, barge into stores, and score the deal of their dreams. And they do this year after year. It seems like the perfect day for the Buy Nothing Day campaign to revolt against, although Adbusters is overlooking the other side to Black Friday. In Jenn Farrell’s blog, “Why I Shop on Buy Nothing Day,” Farrell expresses her view of the day, stating that for a single parent, or low-income family, it is the one day they can let loose and buy something without feeling guilty. Black Friday offers low enough prices for these people to stock up on laundry detergent and other necessities. Others attack the campaign for being against a good economy. It is true that the holiday season adds a burst of happiness to our overall wealth, but what about other nations, and how long can we keep consuming and creating more trash?
The economy is another part of this issue to consider. Many locally-owned and operated stores in my area have already encountered employee layoffs, even with the holidays approaching. They simply cannot afford to keep as many employees as years before.
I think a new tag-line for a Black Friday campaign should be: “Buy Little, Buy Local,” urging consumers to limit their spending and help boost local economies instead of major corporations. This would also give new light to the Adbusters campaign and make it a statement that lasts year-round. People will keep spending and keep being consumers for the rest of their lives, the key is to change the way of thinking for more than just one day out of the year, so we limit our options and limit our waste.
Adbusters Founder Kelle Lasn on CNN:
