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Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Typically celebrated the Friday after American Thanksgiving in North America and the following day internationally, in 2008 the dates were November 28 and 29 respectively.1 It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by Adbusters magazine, based in Canada.
The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September 1992 "as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption."2 In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, also called "Black Friday", which is one of the 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside North America and Israel, Buy Nothing Day is the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads.3 Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.2
While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day,4 Adbusters states that it "isn't just about changing your habits for one day" but "about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste."2 An example of an event celebrating Buy Nothing Day is a Buy Nothing Day hike.5
Buy Nothing Day has been criticized by some groups as a consumer-oriented empowerment activity that is insulting to those who simply cannot afford to buy anything at all, and that it is based on inaction rather than more productive action. A group in Montreal promoted "Steal Something Day" as an alternative.6 In their words, "The geniuses at Adbusters have managed to create the perfect feel-good, liberal, middle-class activist non-happening. A day when the more money you make, the more influence you have (like every other day). A day which, by definition, is insulting to the millions of people worldwide who are too poor or marginalized to be considered "consumers.""
Related articles
References
- ^ "Buy Nothing Day"Adbusters.org
- ^ a b c Buy Nothing Day 2006 press release
- ^ "Buy Nothing Day"The Guardian.co.uk
- ^ Why I Shop on Buy Nothing Day, TheTyee.ca, 11/24/2006
- ^ Buy Nothing Day hike announcement http://www.backtonatives.org/events.htm
- ^ Steal Something Day http://www.urban75.org/archive/news088.html
External links
- BND creator Ted Dave's official website
- The Buy Nothing Day site through the Adbusters Media Foundation
- BND UK information and support for UK campaigners
- Steal Something Day press release from 1999
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 17:11.
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