For the last 15 years, the folks at Adbusters Media Foundation have found a rather ingenious way to royally stick it to the man. They launched Vancouver's International Buy Nothing Day, an entire day devoted to buying zilch, zero, nada. With mobs of Christmas shopper
s scouring the malls in the name of sweet Santa, such a movement may seem like an unlikely sell (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). But on the contrary, this day of anti-consumer reckoning has actually caught on in 65 countries such as the UK, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Norway and India, to name just a few. So what day did they choose to mark such an event? November 23, in order to put a kibosh on the pinnacle of Christmas shopping mania. In addition to their zero shopping mantra, the Buy Nothing activists have put global climate change at the centre of this year's activities. According to Adbusters co-founder, Kalle Lasn, "So much emphasis has been placed on buying carbon offsets and compact fluorescent lightbulbs and hybrid cars that we are losing sight of the core cause of our environmental problems: we consume far too much.” Oh, let the pacifists unite!
s scouring the malls in the name of sweet Santa, such a movement may seem like an unlikely sell (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). But on the contrary, this day of anti-consumer reckoning has actually caught on in 65 countries such as the UK, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Norway and India, to name just a few. So what day did they choose to mark such an event? November 23, in order to put a kibosh on the pinnacle of Christmas shopping mania. In addition to their zero shopping mantra, the Buy Nothing activists have put global climate change at the centre of this year's activities. According to Adbusters co-founder, Kalle Lasn, "So much emphasis has been placed on buying carbon offsets and compact fluorescent lightbulbs and hybrid cars that we are losing sight of the core cause of our environmental problems: we consume far too much.” Oh, let the pacifists unite!Here are just a few of the events taking place during International Buy Nothing Day 2007:
-->Credit Card Cut-up: individuals volunteer their services at a local mall by cutting-up those nasty Visas--for free!
-->The Zombie Walk-->Buy Nothing participants wander around shopping malls and poke fun at the expressionless, zombie-like faces of Christmas shoppers.
-->Whirlmart-->a large Buy Nothing posse invade a local Wallmart by forming a long conga line of shopping carts throughout the store without buying a single thing.
1 comment:
I had not heard of this before, interesting idea...
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