International News Desk – Buy Nothing Day

Every day we are bombarded with advertisements for everything from breath-mints to house insurance, sneakers to pet medication, all full of colour and at a vibrancy that makes us want to go out and buy the latest weight loss meals even if we look just fine. These items are all products of slick marketing campaigns that drive us to buy more, more, more… and in the process turn us into debt-ridden pawns in the big game of Capitalism. While we are out shopping for the hottest branded items, we all seem blissfully unaware that the materials and labour forces needed to create Nike shoes or Tommy Hilfiger jeans come from foreign lands. The point? Severely underpaid Indonesians may have sewn your brand new T-shirt with material procured from the lowest bidder. That means not only are people being exploited for their cheap labour, but that it’s happening at the expense of Canadian workers and fabric producers. The mass consumerism of our generation needs to be curtailed, and Buy Nothing Day presents the opportunity to send a strong message to the corporations and governments responsible for the mismanagement of world economy.

The concept of Buy Nothing Day came from a man called Ted Dave in 1992, a Vancouver man who took a second look at his job in advertising and decided it was time to turn the world around. Since then this Canadian celebration has spread to at least thirteen other countries with participants in the millions. Organisers for the event say that while the best way to participate is to stay at home and give your wallet a rest, Buy Nothing Day also aims to let people know that family fun is possible without money being spent. Organisers hope that these celebrations will give corporations a strong sense of citizen authority while giving people a sense of freedom from market economy. An untouched wallet on Buy Nothing Day represents a day’s worth of pollution, mismanaged money, cheap foreign labour and products, and corporate control – all avoided. Check out the Adbusters BND link below and find out what’s happening in your city.

Buy Nothing on November 25th, and let the world know you’re paying attention.

REFERENCES:
Adbusters; Buy Nothing Day – http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/
The Yearly International Buy Nothing Day – http://www.koopniets.nl/buynothingday.htm
Why Buy Nothing Day? – http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/inews/bushtele/nbt77/bynot.html