Buy nothing day: Did you do it?

// added November 30, 2009 // 46 comments //
Image...
leahl

more from Green:

http://https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

Adbusters couldn't resist asking everyone to take Black Friday off and send a message. Did you get it?

"We want you to not only stop buying for 24 hours, but to shut off your lights, televisions and other nonessential appliances. We want you to park your car, turn off your phones and log off of your computer for the day.

We’re calling for a Ramadan-like fast. From sunrise to sunset we’ll abstain en masse, not only from holiday shopping, but from all the temptations of our five-planet lifestyles."

https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd
http://www.buynothingday.org/
  1. groups:
    Green
  2. tags:
    Consumerism,  Buy Nothing Day,  Cyber Monday

46 comments // Buy nothing day: Did you do it?

  • southrabbit
  • Gellert_Varga
  • xiola
    • 0
      xiola  

    • Awwww. Cool idea. I didn't know, so I bought a Christmas tree, because I'm a total holiday geek! :) And some red wine for patience as I hung the lights on the tree! I fail.

    • 4 months ago
  • Maitereya
  • mykuh
  • thewallisgirl
  • jfill
  • asherp
    • 0
      asherp  
    • jfill:

      Hey, their shoes do kick ass...

      I think it's a good experiment in Moral Capitalism. The shoes live up to their ideals. Union made, in a small family owned workshop, where everybody gets a living wage.

      I mean, they also sell their magazine, but nobody complained about that.

    • 4 months ago
  • jfill
  • jfill
    • 0
      jfill  
    • jfill:

      "Classic Blackspot Sneaker

      This is your chance to unswoosh Nike's tired old swoosh and give birth to a new kind of cool in the sneaker industry."
      https://www.adbusters.org/cultureshop/blackspot/sneaker

      yeah, i dont mean to pop all of your counterculture bubbles but does this not sound exactly like an apple advertisement dissing microsoft? or a rogers ad dissing bell?

      spare me the culturejamming, its all just competition for a bigger market share, whether it be in the magazine industry or the shoe industry.

    • 4 months ago
  • sophosthegreat
  • ScorpioGee
    • 0
      ScorpioGee  

    • I bought some batteries...oh wait that was a Wednesday before thanksgiving.

      But I need new sneakers...very badly. Just too cheep to buy them and I'm not crazy to shop on Blackweekend. I work in retail and I don't want to drive my retail buddies more crazier then they already are.

    • 4 months ago
  • thedez
  • LowShred
    • 0
      LowShred  

    • I didn't even know there was such a day. Regardless, I failed. I'll try next Wednesday though, because I won't get paid until Thursday, and I'll have no money anyways.

    • 4 months ago
  • TheBrownKid
  • JeremyGoode
  • Atalanda_Cameron
    • 0
      Atalanda_Cameron  

    • I almost bought a soda, but they provided us free food and drinks at work for having to deal with the 2 day sale that began at midnight. :P
      I didnt know about this though, i just happened to have not bought anything haha

    • 4 months ago
  • asherp
    • 0
      asherp  
    • Image...

    • http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35662300

      Merry Giftmas!

      And so you're thinking, "It's not Giftmas, it's CHRISTmas"

      Look, Christ ain't got nothin' to do with trampling old ladies at the mall, or punching people in the face to get the last XBOX 360.

      Let's face it, we're all celebrating GIFTMAS, the secular consumer holiday celebrated on Wall Street as the biggest voluntary transfer of wealth from the working class to the business class.

      Credit Card Debt soars, Wall Street Banks collect interest on that debt.

      Violence at shopping establishments is used as an economic indicator by stock traders, valuing stocks for retail chains based on how many people are trampled and killed at their Black Friday events.

      Merry Giftmas to all, and to all a big fight!

      This is my first foray into silk-screening, so this is currently only available in men's large, black on white only.

      And no, the irony of selling something about the rampant consumerism is not lost on me. However... I'm not a wall street bank. I don't make money collecting interest on your debt. I'm not a factory. I'm not a conglomerate. I'm not a publicly traded stock. I'm not a speculator. I'm not trading derivatives. I'm selling handmade t-shirts, from me, to you.

    • 4 months ago
  • Found_Avenue
    • 0
      Found_Avenue  

    • I did it! I bought nothing today!

      (It's easy to participate in this if you happen to be broke at the moment... To tell you the truth, I had no idea it was Buy Nothing Day...)

    • 4 months ago
  • asherp
  • tangibleparadox
  • Lecti
    • 0
      Lecti  

    • It was actually opposite day for me. Not only did i not buy, I sold. I sold old clothes to buffalo exchange. Old records to amoeba, and some books to Moe's! I got paid to clean out my closet. Awesome!

    • 4 months ago
  • MizPiz
    • 0
      MizPiz  

    • I failed, I was on my computer, played PS3, and bought a vacum (in my defense, my dorm was disgusting and I had to clean it).

    • 4 months ago
  • silencio
    • 0
      silencio  

    • However romantic the idea of a day devoted to shunning mass consumerism is, what kind of message does it send the day after, when everything that was put off is taken right back up?

    • 4 months ago
  • KSirys
  • lolitanimatronic
  • desertcat
  • TheEmpireGuy
  • asherp
  • Tyrannous
  • squareshaped
    • 0
      squareshaped  

    • I think the whole "buy absolutely nothing" is a little extreme. Granted, I didn't buy any items I didn't need that day, but I did get some groceries, so I could, you know, eat. Am I supposed to feel bad about that because I didn't go along with this Buy Nothing Day? Maybe it wouldn't sound as catchy, but it would certainly be more meaningful if it was called Buy Nothing You Don't Need Day.

    • 4 months ago
  • nkeg87
    • 0
      nkeg87  

    • I almost didnt buy anything. Mostly cause I worked most of the day. But then I had to take my new puppy to the vet and ended up buying him some food and a few toys.

    • 4 months ago
  • Mariased
  • Atalanda_Cameron
  • Mariased
    • 0
      Mariased  

    • I intended not to, but I came home and heard that a good friend's store was going out of business, so I ended up supporting him. I don't feel particularly guilty about it. I got my mother a beautiful necklace and did my best with my limited funds to help my friend through a (hopefully short) unemployment spell. Granted, I absolutely abhor black friday and the needlessly voracious consumerism it entails, but on this particular date I guess put my money to a decent cause.

    • 4 months ago
  • xiola
  • QuestionGeek
    • 0
      QuestionGeek  

    • I'll buy what I want when I want, thank you. And no one's going to make me feel bad about it. I don't live in a 3rd world country and I'm not poor.

      Besides.. these days I spend my money on other people when I spend, so shut the hell up

    • 4 months ago
  • Ajil
    • 0
      Ajil  
    • QuestionGeek:

      wow. such aggression. why so defensive over materialism? Does shopping give you some type of overwhelming satisfaction you cant find elsewhere in life?

      If you say things like, "I'll buy what I want when I want", then you had better not be someone that claims to even care about the planet, the climate crisis, pollution, animal equality or any of that. Why? Because those are clashing mentalities. You can't buy whatever you want, yet preach as if you care about the environment because you recycle and only buy whole foods. The origins and ingredients of every item you purchase must be looked into. Find out what the corporations are responsible for and how you are contributing by purchasing their products. Whether or not you care, there will come a time when you must sacrifice leisure, conveience, and materialism for the good of the planet. I realize I'm making a rather large jump here, and ranting slightly, but I need to get it out of my system.

    • 4 months ago
  • QuestionGeek
    • 0
      QuestionGeek  
    • QuestionGeek:

      Ajil. excuse me, you must have me confused with those idiots that camp out for several days in front of Best Buy to get the latest XBox.

      I find this kind of subject post offensive, because on Black Friday when everyone is supposed to buy nothing, I got to shop at a store that I usually can't shop at because of the high prices for a FRIEND, not for myself, a FRIEND who is very much in need of what I bought . So with this post, I feel like my act of giving and love is being attacked -- not fair.

      They want everyone to live in the dark ages or like they live in some third world country on Black Friday by turning everything off and not buying food they need and other essentials? Gee, real practical and smart. Sounds like extremism to me.

      Leave the "Buy Nothing" day to those that wish to imbibe, and stop preaching about how awful those that happened to buy something on Black Friday are, cause it's a bunch of nonsense.

    • 4 months ago
  • TheEmpireGuy
  • smurph25
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • I bought nothing. Not even groceries. Did leave the tv on, but I keep lights out in my house. I have been told it's too dark by some people, but hey...they don't pay the light bill.

    • 4 months ago
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  

    • I think it was 1990, or the year Super Nintendo came out, was the last year I did any X-mas shopping. After going through several layers of hell to get the NES and some other things, I told my kids that was the last time I was doing any of that. Enough of the insanity, you guys are getting money from now on, and you can do what you want with it. I was kinda surprised they were cool with that decision, maybe they wanted dad to be in a good mood for X-mas, lol.

    • 4 months ago
  • grassroutes
    • 0
      grassroutes  

    • After driving 10m to one shopping plaza at 12am Black friday then driving 25m to wait in line for an hour outside of Fry's electronics for their 5am opening I can say that I did not purchase a single item on what will now be Buy Nothing Day!

      Can't say the same for my comrades but i hope it makes up for all the driving

    • 4 months ago
  • decidedlyindecisive
    • 0
      decidedlyindecisive  

    • i did not buy anything - which was not really that hard; but as for the turning off the lights and nonessential appliances - no, I did not do that; partly because I didn't realize that was part of Buy Nothing day and partly because how else was I supposed to play Moder Warfare 2 on my 42 inch flatscreen tv.. both of which were bought on days when it was ok to buy something.

    • 4 months ago
  • sgwhites
    • 0
      sgwhites  

    • I admit--i failed. I meant to not buy anything, but wound up getting a head start on my holiday shopping. I did buy from my local metaphysical store, though, so at least I skipped the big malls..

      (And no, the TV and computer didn't get turned off. I finally had time to clean out some of my inboxes! I'm not going to waste that!)

    • 4 months ago
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