Buy Nothing Day - Adbusters

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Join a local jammergroup

Looking for a Buy Nothing Day event to get involved in? Leading an event of your own and need to get the word out? Our Buy Nothing Day forum is a tool to help activists find one another. The forum is organized geographically. Post under the appropriate country heading and make sure to include the name of the city where your event is taking place in the title. Go there now >>

Downloads

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  Download the US version
  Download the International version
• 
  Download the US version
  Download the International version
• 
  Download the US version
  Download the International version
• 
  Download the US version
  Download the International version

Credit card cut up

Volunteers 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. Be careful though: in some first-world countries, carrying scissors in public can get you arrested as a "terrorist".

Zombie Walk

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.

Whirl–mart

This activity has the advantage of being most likely to piss off security personnel. You and nine of your closest friends silently drive your shopping carts around in a long, inexplicable conga line without ever actually buying anything.

Get the Pig on MTV

MTV is our target. They've refused our money in the past, claiming that our public service video messages are not "appropriate" for their viewers. Let's see what excuses they come up with this year.

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  North American Piggy The classic Buy Nothing Day spot. Year after year Adbusters has tried unsuccessfully to buy airtime from major American networks to get this public service message out.
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  Wild West Buy Nothing Day Even cowboys celebrate Buy Nothing Day. It’s the law on November 23rd‚ 2007.

Ideas

Share your ideas

• "Santa Claus" brings my two children (ages 4 and 7) lots of cool presents from our local thrift store - some in their original packaging. Sure, I succumb to the lure of Target et al. as well, but the thrift store makes a dent in my Xmas-time consumerism. For my adult friends, I make coupons, treating them to a night of babysitting, for example.
  Susanna, Hyattsville, MD
  
  
• Stop exchanging Christmas gifts between adults. (It's much more meaningful to buy things for family and friends throughout the year if and when you see something special that you know someone would like.) Our family quit exchanging gifts between adults several years ago. It took a huge amount of stress away. No more desperate shopping forays. No more monster bills in January.
  Nancy Bartoo, Pittsburgh
  
  
• Nothing short of a GENERAL STRIKE will bring Corporate America to its knees. A one day campaign does NOTHING. In order to destroy any chance of the Big Boys making a profit, a critical mass composed of at least 80-90% of Americans buying nothing for at least 4-6 WEEKS OR LONGER is the only way that will happen. Real revolution requires real sacrifice.
  Benjamin Steinke, Lincoln, NE
  
  
• The Revolution is NOW. We must show the ideas to people that are effective for their brain level. Consumer life style and system we live now is for handicap organisms.
  Indi, Chicago
  
  
• Buy nothing day today. There was a small advertisement bought on the national radio here advertising buy nothing day and adbusters website.. Maybe next time well aim for the pig on tv..
  Einar, Reykjavík
  
  
• HMMM>>> a lot of people seem to be negative towards buy nothing day. That is a total cop out on there part.We are a horibly overconsumptive Nation Canada is the biggest producer of polution per person in the world,,, That is scary. I hope that publications like Adbusters and the republic and other ALTERNATIVE media can Help people be aware of real issues around them that affect their lives and families . And not be transported away from reality with lifestyles of the rich and famous and there UN ... [read more]
  ROMAN, Vancouver
  
  
• Wow, you all have your work cut out for you- so few really do seem to "get it", IT being that there apparently needs to be some massive awareness efforts to dredge people out of their Affluenza and sicko buy buy buy frenzy, and to know that that mentality is destroying the earth. LIke they say - at first denial, then anger, bargaining and finally acceptance. All efforts to get US residents to think and act on living more simply should be applauded. Bravo !!
  Heddy, Ann Arbor
  
  
• I happen to live in shopping outlet mecca so Im essentially at Ground Zero on a daily basis. BND is a nice thought but good luck with that. You wont make a blimp on the radar. Black Friday is seen by consumers as a day of massive savings on items in stores. Yes, the day is insane at times but people do save money. And yes, do they over indulge? Damn right they do. You can compare our way of life to other countries all you want. There will always be someone worse off or better off than you  ... [read more]
  Darryl, Freeport, ME
  
  
• Buy Nothing Day is supposed to encourage us to consume less...but it's basically self-satisfied hippies weirding out shoppers with performance art that either annoys them or goes over their heads. It seems more about feeling superior than making any kind of difference. Anyway, I don't see what buying nothing for one day is going to prove, since there are still 4 weeks of shopping to go. It's like those idiotic "Don't Buy Gas Today" boycotts that don't actually ask people to drive less. Y ... [read more]
  Scott, North Hollywood, CA
  
  

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Buy Nothing Day Christmas

Buy Nothing Christmas is not really about refusing to spend a dime over the holiday season. It’s about taking a deep breath and deciding to opt out of the hype‚ the overcrowded malls‚ and the stressful to–do lists. It’s about reminding ourselves to really think about what we are buying‚ why we are buying it‚ and whether we really need it at all.
more.

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