Subvert the Shopping Silliness this Black Friday
Buy less. Live more.
We’ve unearthed a campaign from 2015, that we think still totally applies today.
So have a read, then get involved (or rather, uninvolved!)…
Buy Nothing Day is where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from buying stuff - anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending! Instead of shopping, people around the world will take part in a 24 hour moratorium on consuming, either as a personal experiment or public statement.
Can you resist the urge to splurge? Or will Black Friday bully you into buying things you probably don’t need?
Join the global network in over 60 countries who will be celebrating Buy Nothing Day.
Escape the Shopocalypse
The anarchy that ensues on Black Friday has now become an absurd dystopian phenomenon. The big retailers use the event to spin out highly competitive one day offers, which often creates a rabid free for all. Black Friday is creating a brand of shoppers who will trample and fight each other to get their hands on next years landfill.
Black Friday sucks the life out of small businesses, who cannot compete against this ruthless price cutting. If you really need to shop on Buy Nothing Day, ignore the big retailers with their aisles of organised landfill and make commitment to support local independent shops and businesses. There are plenty of Christmas markets which support small, local businesses… Try Bideford Christmas Market or North Devon Christmas Market in Braunton.
Participate by not participating
Taking part in Buy Nothing Day is simple - it can be anything from staying at home with a good book, to making the time to write a letter to a friend. Not shopping can mean there’s an extra bit of time to do something lovely, and free, for yourself or someone else. If you’re feeling motivated by a streak of activism, then get out on the streets and share your Buy Nothing Day enthusiasm with a poster and a chat with passers by. It is entirely up to you how you participate and don't forget to share your event or activity using #BuyNothingDay and #plasticfreenorthdevon.
Shop less, live more.
Of course, Buy Nothing Day isn't about changing your lifestyle for just one day - we want it to be a lasting relationship or maybe a life changing experience! We want people to make a commitment to shopping less and living more.
We believe that the health of the planet is more important than profit.
As a society, we cannot afford to continue on our current trajectory of gobbling up natural resources, filling our oceans and landfills with single-use, throwaway items, and being complacent in our culture of consumerism. We need to take responsibility for our actions and our addiction to "stuff." It's time to think about how much we really need to buy. Living mindfully is about making consumption decisions with intent, thinking about what we are doing and why we are doing it.