What's the opposite of Black Friday?
Buy Nothing Day.
For 20 years, Adbusters, a Canadian magazine, has declared a 24-hour money-spending moratorium on the Friday after Thanksgiving—traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year—as a way of making an anti-consumerist statement.
"Until we challenge the entrenched values of capitalism—that the economy must always keep growing, that consumer wants must always be satisfied, that immediate gratification is imperative—we’re not going able to fix the gigantic psycho-financial-eco crisis of our times," says a statement on the Adbusters site.
This year, the group is also promoting such public actions as a Credit Card Cut Up ("Stand in a shopping mall with a pair of scissors and a sign offering a simple service: to put an end to extortionate interest rates and mounting debt with one considerate cut") and a Zombie Walk, where "the cheerful dead wander around malls, marveling at the blank, comatose expressions on the faces of shoppers. The zombies are happy to be among their own kind, but slightly contemptuous of those who have not yet begun to rot."
What do you think about Buy Nothing Day? Or will you focus on local small businesses? Let us know in the comments below!
