''Buy Nothing Day''

  • Thread starter Thread starter Year.Zero
  • 44 comments
  • 2,010 views

Are you buying nothing on Black Friday?

  • Yes

    Votes: 33 57.9%

  • No

    Votes: 24 42.1%
  • Total voters
    57
  • Poll closed .
Year.Zero

Year.Zero

(Banned)
Messages
383
Black Friday is upon us ladies and gentleman, and I was simply wondering who, after reading this thread, is going to abstain from the commercial nonsense that starts every Friday after thanksgiving?

What is buy nothing day?

Buy Nothing Day

Wikipedia
Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. In 2007, Buy Nothing Day falls on November 23rd in North America and November 24th internationally.[1] It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine.

The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 "as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption."[2] In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads.[3] Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.[4]
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I'm somewhat shocked that this hasn't been posted already.

A facebook group for it already has 91,000 confirmed members and another 40,000 maybes.

Adbusters has been running articles on it for some time now, and as mentioned above, have gotten CNN to advertise the event (or lack there of).

The Facebook Group

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Since Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday may be as early as the 23rd and as late as the 29th day of November. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employers give the day off, allowing consumers to get a head start on their Christmas shopping. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 A.M.) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. "Black Friday" was originally so named because of the heavy traffic on that day, although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit).
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Yes if you're not buying anything,

No if you are buying something.
 
Well I'm in since I'm broke anyway. :dopey:
 
I’ll probably buy lunch. I may or may not go out and buy many drinks. Most likely not, I need to study.
 
Damn, then I would have to wait to see if Borders is actually not going to call me for my book ^^.
 
If I need to buy something, I'll buy it. I'm not going to not buy something just because it falls on a day when I'm not supposed to buy anything, and conversely, I'm not going to buy something just because it falls on a day when I'm supposed to buy stuff.
 
daan
If I need to buy something, I'll buy it. I'm not going to not buy something just because it falls on a day when I'm not supposed to buy anything, and conversely, I'm not going to buy something just because it falls on a day when I'm supposed to buy stuff.
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I'll let Daan speak for me...
 
And I’ll let him purchase for me.
 
Well, this is more referring to people who are going to go shop for something. I'm not talking about buying a coke or paying for your lunch.
 
So buying a book counts though you ordered it a week ago?
 
I already have a list written up, and stores to visit in order starting at 5 in the morning.

This isn't changing me saving stupid amounts of money on Christmas gifts.
 
nk4e
So buying a book counts though you ordered it a week ago?
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The day was made to combat the huge hordes of people that go shopping on that particular day, due to its' often massive sales.

I find it somewhat ironic, though, that it was started by a Canadian group (the Adbusters crew) when it's a (mostly) American . . .celebration? I don't even know what to call it, extravaganza just sounds retarded.
 
Yep. Didn't know what black friday was. Answered the poll first and found out what it is afterwards.
:dopey:
 
I'm only going to buy something (as in shopping) if I win one of the amazon votes deals.
 
I need shotgun ammo, and I'm going to buy shotgun ammo.
 
I wonder if I can use this as an excuse to not go to work..

Me: Hey I'm not gonna make it today.
Work: Why?
Me: Because over in America, it's Buy Nothing Day, I'm taking part.
Work: So?
Me: Well, it means I can't buy a bus ticket so unless you wish to fish out five quid for a 30 minute return journey, I'm gonna go fry me some noodles.
 
Never heard of it, and I don't get the point of "Buy nothing day". Why protest against consumerism? Noone's forcing me to buy stuff. What business is it of mine if someone else buys stuff to make themselves feel good? What do I care if someone buys a BMW just because they wouldn't be seen dead in a Hyundai?

Also never heard of Black Friday, but since it's apparently related to thanksgiving, that makes sense, since I've never lived in a country that celebrates thanksgiving either.
 
So that's what Black Friday is. I only knew the The Black Crowes song.
 
I'm not going to buy anything on Friday, but not as a protest against capitalism. Rather, I'll do it because I can't stand Black Friday and all of the crowds that it brings, I'll get my Christmas shopping done when I don't have to run and fight for things at the stores, not worth the money saved in my opinion.
 
I'll probably buy something, but I usually buy something every day. I'm not interested in "protesting against consumerism" - I hope a lot of people buy stuff on Black Friday. Good economy = good.
 
I'm certain that I will need to go and buy food at the grocery store. Otherwise, I work in retail, and the last thing I want to do is go shopping for clothes that day...
 
If you don't want to combat the hordes of people, then shop online. But then there is the chance that the servers will be overloaded.
 
I'm going shopping tomorrow, there are to many good deals to pass up. I don't see the point of protesting against consumerism, that's the way the modern world runs now and I really do not see anything wrong with it. Capitalism works the best, this is shown that the US, UK, and other western societies are still functioning while the Soviet Union is defunct and China is changing.
 
I'm not getting up special to go shopping.
I have some crap to deal with at work, so I may buy breakfast and lunch, though my dear wife has made a sausage/egg casserole that hasn't been touched, and likely will not be before tomorrow, so I may only be buying lunch if I don't take leftovers with.
 
Unfortunatly I have to work at bestbuy on black/green friday. Let the chaos insue!!
 
Consumerism is freedom.

[/argument]
 
GrumpEone
Unfortunatly I have to work at bestbuy on black/green friday. Let the chaos insue!!
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The one by Great Lakes Crossing I presume, that place is nuts on Black Friday....I'll be there :p
 
Last year at Target (Madison Heights, MI) there was a fist-fight over the last Elmo doll.
 
Joey D
The one by Great Lakes Crossing I presume, that place is nuts on Black Friday....I'll be there :p
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Yep, I'll probably spend most of my time trying to find lost carts, or doing carry-outs. Luckily I work Warehouse, and do not have too much direct interaction with the customers. Because the customers can be a little insane in big groups around the holidays.
 
GrumpEone
Last year at Target (Madison Heights, MI) there was a fist-fight over the last Elmo doll.
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Last year at my local target, there was a fight to get into the store because a employee came out.
 
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