BrandAware

For anyone who hasn't heard of this 'holiday', Buy Nothing Day was created by an artist in Vancouver and has been promoted by Adbusters Magazine for the last 10 years or so.  The idea is to 'buy nothing' for the entire day. For American consumers, this is particularly relevant since today is Black Friday - the day where stores provide pre-Christmas deals (and shoppers lose all sense of reason). It was almost exactly a year ago today that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death because of a stampede of shoppers racing to buy discounted goods.  Trampled.  People couldn't be bothered to stop and help her up.  Two people were also shot to death at a Toys R' Us in a dispute over a toy.  I don't know about anyone else, but these are scary, scary things to read about.  For years people have talked about how our need for consumption is figuratively killing us.  Well now it's actually killing us. 



Buy Nothing Day has received it's share of criticism since many people claim their purchases are merely put off for a day or that it doesn't have an impact.  I would like to encourage everyone to use Buy Nothing Day to reflect on how we live our lifestyles all year long.  Even if you have to buy something tomorrow, I think the more important thing is to be conscious of it.

What to do instead of shop:

• Adbusters has a list of events.  
• You can check out a protest or culture jam.
• Spend time with friends and family.
• Enjoy the outdoors! Go for a walk/bike ride/run.
• Stay home, cut up your credit cards and make homemade gifts instead.

For those of you who are determined to face the Black Friday swarms, please remember to be safe and to be considerate of those around you.  It is after all, just stuff.  It can be replaced, where as human lives cannot.


Adbusters: Buy Nothing Day

I’ve mentioned the idea that being an ethical buyer means just plain old buying less.  Every product has an environmental footprint, and we should probably start asking ourselves, “Do I really need this?” a lot more often.

Reverend Billy and his choir go around different preaching to people that they need to stop shopping, for fear of the “Shopocalypse,” which is shopping-apocalypse.  They can often be found outside Wal-Marts urging people not to go in.  He’s received more and more media attention over the last few years and Morgan Spurlock (the guy from SuperSize Me), actually directed a documentary about Reverend Billy’s work.

If this is the first time you’re seeing Reverend Billy, it’s important to note that he is actually playing a character as opposed to being legitimately unhinged.  He doesn’t seriously think that Playstations and Tickle-Me-Elmos are Satan.  His real name is Bill Talen and Reverend Billy is a character he created to get people’s attention about issues he thinks are important.  In fact, I’m not sure that he’s actually religious at all.  Essentially he is protesting our culture of mass consumption, but in an interesting and engaging way.

If you haven’t seen any of his videos before, be sure to watch a few on YouTube or check out his movie because if nothing else, it’s quite entertaining to watch people’s reactions to him on the street.  And like the reverend says, be sure to ask yourself this Christmas, “What Would Jesus Buy?”

One of the many ways of protesting against unethical corporations is through art. This is why I would like to introduce a regular feature here at BrandAware:



If you're reading this on rss, click through to take a look at what I'm talking about.

The first artist I'm featuring is quite well known in some circles which is impressive considering his real identity is unknown. Banksy is primarily graffiti/culture jam artist and in that business, anonymity is your friend. His artwork often has to with commenting on issues such as consumer culture and public space. He's done some pretty cool stuff, so if you're interested be sure to check out his website.