Buy Nothing Day is the new Black Friday

JeanwahJeanwah Posts: 6,363
edited November 2008 in A Moving Train
Who else is sick of our society telling us that our job as citizens is to consume? Fight back, and buy NOTHING today, Black Friday.

Buy Nothing On Black Friday

Though rushing to the mall or local CrapMart the day after Thanksgiving has become trad for millions of Americans, many Americans spend Black Friday boycotting shopping altogether in protest. Buy Nothing Day -- promoted since the early 1990s by the zany culture jammers at Adbusters -- has become a holiday for anti-consumerist folk who enjoy taking a stand against all the shopping and spending that inevitably produces lots of debt, trash and disappointment (that American Apparel hoodie didn't really fix the interminable gnawing feeling in your soul, now did it?)

One can spend BND by safely staying at home and avoiding the crowds, or by participating in one of Adbusters' suggested celebratory activities: Cutting up people's credit cards (with their explicit permission!); walking around the mall like a zombie (can be difficult to stand out in the average suburban mall, where vacant TV Eyes are common, but you can try); or going to a store with some friends, grabbing shopping carts and then wheeling them around in silence without picking up any items for purchase. Actions planned in Chicago include a fur protest and a Zombie Walk down Michigan Ave.

If you just have to buy something on Black Friday, because you're anal like that, then you can avoid putting your cash money in the corpies' coffers by visiting your local thrift store. Buying second-hand doesn't mean you love someone less -- it just means that you also appreciate a good, eco-friendly deal, and your loved ones should either appreciate your common sense or just deal with it. This author has discovered brand-new items on the second-hand racks; look carefully and you might strike gold as well.

http://chicagoist.com/2008/11/26/dont_buy_it.php
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • RiverrunnerRiverrunner Posts: 2,419
    I like it. I did it. I bought nothing today. I went to the gym, and then hiked, and then cleaned the house.
    The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. Ghandi
  • Urban HikerUrban Hiker Posts: 1,312
    A zombie walk on Black Friday would be totally kick ass. :p
    Walking can be a real trip
    ***********************
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  • HartydogHartydog Posts: 2,060
    I bought nothing.
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  • edigerediger Posts: 308
    two questions

    1) what if I'm Canadian?
    2) I'm out of beer, what do I do?
    Hello, I love you. Won't you tell me your name?
  • A man was trampled today at Walmart.
    No longer funny!
    I might not buy anthing this year. Not worth a human life.
    Anger is a gift
  • No one is telling you to buy anything on Black Friday. The reason people buy on black friday is because businesses offer good deals. If you want to forgo that opportunity, then there will always be someone to take your place.

    I personally cannot stand these huge crowds and like to actually relax during my Thanksgiving vacation so I do not shop on Black Friday.
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  • spiral outspiral out Posts: 1,052
    I like the idea, but these things never really get noticed as too many people are too into the idea of buying crap they don't need.
    Keep on rockin in the free world!!!!

    The economy has polarized to the point where the wealthiest 10% now own 85% of the nation’s wealth. Never before have the bottom 90% been so highly indebted, so dependent on the wealthy.
  • pateljampateljam Posts: 340
    A man was trampled today at Walmart.
    No longer funny!
    I might not buy anthing this year. Not worth a human life.

    This happens every year... it just this time its getting more attention... This is so sick. People are like animals.

    By the way I never buy anything on Black Friday.
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  • iamicaiamica Chicago Posts: 2,628
    I've been doing Buy Nothing Day for years. After working in retail on Black Friday and experiencing psycho customers firsthand, I would never want to put myself in that situation again.
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  • I wish I could feel that way but I need the money. SHOP AT MY STORE!!! :)
    Get em a Body Bag Yeeeeeaaaaa!
    Sweep the Leg Johnny.
  • "Buy Nothing Day" usually occurs about 208 days out of the year for me, so I think I will keep on enjoying a safe Black Friday and continue being a responsible consumer.
    350x700px-LL-d2f49cb4_vinyl-needle-scu-e1356666258495.jpeg
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