The Friday after Thanksgiving is an important day for many people. For one thing, it's the day of the annual Texas-Texas A&M rivalry; Texas won today,
40-29 (Hook 'em!). It's also a day when retail stores have some of their biggest specials in order to kickoff the Holiday shopping season. In addition, it's also
Buy Nothing Day, a tradition started by
Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn.
Buy Nothing Day is a wonderful idea; it could spur people to stop driving themselves deeper into debt by racking up higher credit card bills (even while some credit card companies are "helping" you avoid late fees by making additional purchases each month). Unfortunately, with today traditionally being the biggest shopping day of the year, I think that a discussion of strategy is in order.
As I write this diary, many retailers are reporting that they are seeing
higher numbers this year. If this campaign were truly successful and growing, which is Adbusters' contention, then the opposite would be the case. I think that a change is in order.
On a personal note, I am rather proud of myself this year; I bought nothing today. However, it is a difficult choice to make, and two years ago I did exactly the opposite. See, I had just moved up to Alaska and we wanted to get some Christmas decorations; the day after Thanksgiving was the perfect choice. We also were "given" a DVD player as an early Christmas present, which basically meant a family member was going to reimburse us for buying one up here (if you think that's wrong, look into shipping costs to Alaska and see if that doesn't change your mind). We wanted to be considerate and make the best use of their generous offer, so we went bargain hunting on the day when bargains were easiest to find. So while I support this effort by Adbusters, I don't find their choice of dates to be particularly helpful.
So am I just the "party of opposition" on this one? Do I have an alternate suggestion? I'm glad you asked; I think that Buy Nothing Day should be moved to July 4.
Just imagine it: we could encourage Americans to declare their independence from our consumer culture! Take a pass on GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)! And we could also sell it as a great way to ensure that no one has to work on the most important day in our country's history! I'm sure that some sort of deal would have to be worked out for citizens of each individual country, but most of the Adbusters material is focused on the U.S. anyway. I feel that the time has come for Independence Day to become Buy Nothing Day!
Or we could choose another day, like maybe the birthdate of Keynes or Marx (my vote would be for Keynes, since he advocated deficit spending). But choosing "Black Friday" means that you have no measureable success, which means that you have virtually no impact and that hardly anyone takes your campaign seriously. It's past time for a change.
Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section below.