![A Tahrir Moment on Wall Street [Portuguese]](http://www.adbusters.org/files/magazine/teaser/flag_portuguese_guardian.png?1317158969 "A Tahrir Moment on Wall Street [Portuguese]")
People in a mall are a mob of narcotized shopping zombies. It’s your duty to liberate as many of these poor souls as you can from their perpetual role in this horror flick, Night of the Shopping Dead.
If you see someone sitting on a bench, accost them: “Get off that bench! Resume shopping! We’ve got a planet to consume!”
Always subvert the stupidity of the marketing campaigns. Go into the Gap and ask if the “1969” jeans have been on the shelf for 40 years.
Go into Victoria’s Secret where the pics of the barely postadolescent models wearing almost nothing are plastered everywhere on the walls and ask if this is the adult bookstore and can you have $5 in quarters.
When in a high-end store like Lord & Taylor stop right in the middle of that obnoxious gang of perfume-spritzing ladies in black, remove a booger from your nose and look at it with same pride that the woman in front of you has for that bottle of Channel No. 5 she just paid $50 for.
Another favorite tactic: As you pass this haute couture stink zone, wave your hand back and forth, pretend you’re passing out and shout, “Oxygen! Oxygen!”
Bring a pillow from home and stuff it in your shirt or under your coat. Smile at the security guards as you exit the mall.
—Steven Martin
Find this and more reader's letters giving suggestions for action this Buy Nothing Day on our BND campaign page and find fellow activists near you at Meetup.com/Buy-Nothing-Day.
Merry
Merry Apocalypse
http://ecohustler.co.uk/2010/11/29/merry-apocalypse/
OK, so I bought nothing. And,
OK, so I bought nothing. And, by the looks of things, acheived nothing. Sales figures (in the US) still went up - no data for Canada or the UK or elsewhere that I can find. Need more awareness of this campaign or a different approach.
I look forward to see if there is any impact on 7th Dec Bank Run Day. Will it have a real, measurable effect or at least make the mainstream media?
http://www.bankrun2010.com
Great website for non bias
Great website for non bias market data and news.
www.zerohedge.com
On a large enough timeline, everyone's survival rate drops to zero.
Money is paper debt. Take
Money is paper debt.
Take that paper out of the bank and buy real hard assets such as gold and silver.
Bank Run December 7
Crash JPMorgan Buy Silver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Sx5NhIElk
looks like some shoppers were unconvinced. These Black Friday stampedes and store fights are insane.
After all this chitchat how
After all this chitchat how many of you did something? I know i did.
Why not scrabble with all the
Why not scrabble with all the other animals, gather a cartful of shit, then walk out without buying all your bargains?
I definitely think tactics
I definitely think tactics that incorporate a sense of diplomacy and creativity would get through to more people. "experiments" that make people "think" like the below post suggested. Remember the Truth cigarette ads? You dont necessarily have to destroy property or stoop to some nose picking pranks to get your point across.
I like this, and agree its
I like this, and agree its not about mess, noise and utter rudeness
sometimes quiet silence, may helps others to listen with curiosity not known before to themselves
It could be that listening is a first small step within an individual that is truly revolutionesque
I've got a bad feeling about
I've got a bad feeling about this. In most of the experiments i've run people react in the completly opposite and unwanted way to what we'd hope. For example; when complaining about something, say designer cloathing, even someone who would mildly disagree with people who pay too much money for them would start arguing back with the person I was speaking to. Simple people just want to belong and by attacking there comfy system it allows them to herd up together and shout at a common enemy.
Instead of labling ourselves as rebels and comsumers as sheep, we should try to make people more emotionally aware of what they're doing. Don't tell people to buy nothing, Ask them why 'we' think buying things makes us happy. Dont tell is how you think, make them think themselves.
(applauds)
(applauds)
Great! Harassing the poor
Great! Harassing the poor sods who work there to pay their rent because they, unlike you, don't receive financial support from their parents. That'll teach 'em and really hurt the bottom line. Guess since it's just the unenlightened masses they are fair game for your fun, excuse me, "actions".
I feel like You took this
I feel like You took this article way too personally and kind of out of context. The point is to make people stop and think about their consumption. Not to put YOU and the rest of us without a silver spoon in our bums out of a job (with no hope of accomidating for the loss). A few pranks shouldnt have any effect on your bread and butter this holiday season- so calm down. Even if the fall of capitalism should entail you ultimatley loosing your job- that would not be anytime soon. And heres a thought- The Mall is not the only place to work! This isnt AB vs you and your crappy job. This is the people vs. the status quoe.
Oh and to the comment about leaving innocent people alone to mind thier own buisness... agreed, one would not like to be harrassed and bothered when one is seemingly going about innocent buisness- however I see nothing wrong with a little discomfort and agitation to awaken new paths and thoughts in the malignantly apathetic masses.
And to the whole post- public specticals are indeed a useful plan, but only if executed efficiently and effectivley. Annoying pranks can be just as usless as looting and destroying. This is nothing trivial that we are striving for, so maybe picking our nose to make a point- really isn't making the right point.
Did I say at any point that
Did I say at any point that *I* work at the mall or some other crappy job and did I somehow give the impression that I don't understand what BND is about? Don't think so, so shove your condescending comment up your ass.
Might be hard for someone so utterly self-involved and pathetically megalomaniac to understand, but I was really just thinking of the people who work there and will have a crappy day because some little shit is under the delusion that his infantile pranks will change the way of world. Hate to break it to you, but they won't.
Clearly the previous post was
Clearly the previous post was absolutely correct that you are taking this personally and way too seriously.
I agree with you that any efforts should be directed more towards the actual consumers than the retail slaves of employment. Your bitching is nothing but detrimental and your need to devalue others only proves your own insecurity and fear.
You don't even realize it yet, but you are the real target of these ideas.
Or get a whole bunch of Obama
Or get a whole bunch of Obama look-a-likes and go eat for free at KFC...
i cant participate in BND and
i cant participate in BND and not be a hypocrite, but what i did instead was that i made this list of movies that question consumerism maybe that will help too check them out:
http://su.pr/2ynDyi
Are you people NUTS! Would
Are you people NUTS! Would you like your property to be defaced and your act and you and your family to be bullied and criticized when all you are doing is minding your business?
over generalized statement...
over generalized statement... next
At the same time, so is
At the same time, so is yours. I'm not saying I don't agree with you but maybe there's a better way to prove your point?? The comment you respond to is one of the few comments that differs drastically from the flow of the others. I've heard people say that Adbusters - and people who read Adbusters - are a bunch of hypocritical nuts. Given the response given, I can see why. Maybe, providing a well reasoned response that takes in the other person's intelligence and right to an opinion would be a better way to involve others in great conversation. Maybe, it might it even provide a chance to demonstrate what exactly the rebellious are trying to prove.
I do not seek to insult. Only to point out a lost opportunity to lead with more humility.
Another fairly tame idea is
Another fairly tame idea is plastering signs in restrooms and other areas actually in the store. Plastering the BND sign on the mirror or climb on the sink and put it above the mirror. Use wheat paste if you're familiar with it, or just grab a can of spray adhesive and liberally spray the surface.
Daring painters could tag and
Daring painters could tag and paint megastores prior to BND, let's say... tonight?
Get whistles and parade through the mall and stores whistling until your hearts content.
While walking through clothing stores, knock over racks of clothing and goods?
Stop and casually talk with someone about consumption and the harm it's doing to the earth and our society as a whole? Not as fun, but probably one of the more productive ideas.
Stink bombs, flea bombs, any non-harmful bombs? The biggest issue of all is that we actually get out there and make these ideas reality. Forget all of your preexisting fears and just get out, do this one for Adbusters. Do this one for yourself.
boogers? we've been reduced
boogers? we've been reduced to clowns in our own circus.
or just plain crazy(in the
or just plain crazy(in the view of those bourgeois perfumed women)..
action needs to be more obvious... more direct
we are smart. but consumers are not
what about detonating flea
what about detonating flea bombs in clothing stores? it'd take ages for them to get rid of the fleas.
or
daring graffiti artists to start tagging expensive cars instead of only walls
or
get 20 people to dress up as ronald mcdonald and go for a happy meal all together and get the security to kick them out. that would look amazing: ronald mcdonald being kicked out of his own franchise!
That's the best one... Did
That's the best one...
Did you know the first Ronald McDonald was fired for being too fat?
Get a couple of old folks
Get a couple of old folks dressed up as greeters and.... Wally World will be happy!
I like the whirl- mart idea,
I like the whirl- mart idea, i added a few things to it though. My idea was to go in with at least 8 people armed with posters with different quotes or ideas about curbing consumption. As we whirl through the store we can stick them on shelves or drop them in peoples carts. Then as we exit, we can all leave our carts in front of the entrance, blocking it, and walk out.