Buy Nothing Day (BND) is an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Typically celebrated the Friday after American Thanksgiving in North America and the following day internationally, in 2011 the dates are November 25 and 26 respectively.[1] It was founded in Vancouver by artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by Adbusters magazine, based in Canada.
The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Mexico in September 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, also called "Black Friday", which is one of the ten busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside North America and Israel, Buy Nothing Day is the following Saturday. Adbusters was denied advertising time by almost all major television networks except for CNN, which was the only one to air their ads.[3] Soon, campaigns started appearing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, France, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.[2]
Buy Nothing Day has recently been modified by Adbusters and renamed Occupy Xmas. Buy Nothing Day was first joined with Adbuster's Buy Nothing Christmas campaign. Shortly there after, Lauren Bercovitch, the production manager at Adbusters Media Foundation publicly embraced the principles of Occupy Christmas telling The Fulcrum.
"...something as simple as buying locally—going out and putting money into your local economy—or making your Christmas presents" - An interview with Lauren Bercovitch
Previously, the central message of Occupy X-mas and Occupy Christmas differed in that Occupy X-Mas called for a "buy nothing Christmas" and Occupy Christmas called for support of local economy, artists and craftspeople in holiday shopping. The union of these ideologies calls for a Buy Nothing Day to kick off a season of supporting local economy and family.
"Being ecologically aware, socially aware, culturally aware, environmentally aware … I think that’s going to continue whether or not it’s called Occupy Christmas or Buy Nothing Christmas"- An interview with Lauren Bercovitch
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Various gatherings and forms of protest have been used on Buy Nothing Day to draw attention to the problem of over-consumption:
While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day,[5] Adbusters states that it "isn't just about changing your habits for one day" but "about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste."[2]
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