Do or Do Not There is No Buy

Buy Nothing Day, a day at the end of November when people attempt to stave off the temptation to give into materialism and "bring the capitalist consumption machine to a grinding– if only momentary – halt." (Adbusters) A one day boycott of buying things and using lights, and non-essential appliances.

This is of course the work of an activist movement; politically charged one at that, based on the use of the word ‘capitalist’. Now I suppose the short sighted attack at this event would be simply: people will just buy twice as much the following day to make up for it. The counter to this is probably the idea that people will attain some kind of self actualization. That people will realize they don't need to consume to be happy and will swear off their overly commercialized ways forever. As tempting as it is to aruge against such a naive idea, I'm not writing this blog to argue such a short sighted attack as my main point.

I would prefer to ask a different question. One that people should ask about all activist movements. Is this about doing good, or feeling good? By this I mean, are people who participate in these kinds of things, rallies, protests, one day boycotts, etc. really trying to change things? Or are they in fact just doing this for their own conscience?

There are a slew of issues facing our society, and there are even more activist movements opposing such issues. How many are making changes and how many are just a rallying party for people to feel better about themselves? If I get together with my friends and do some of these activities, like pretending to be a zombie in a mall, or making a conga line in Wal-Mart, are we really changing people's minds about consumption? Or are we just doing it because it's fun and we're bored that night?

Buy nothing day is an interesting concept, but from my experience people are already painfully aware that the environment is going downhill and we're to blame. Adbusters should be trying to do something that will actually make changes on a measurable scale, like government reforms. Instead they're just organizing an ad campaign that's marketing, like the "flyer your neighborhood" (adbuster) idea, probably causes more pollution then it stops. This campaign is just letting people ease their conscience and take the easy way out. People need to make real changes and not just pay lip service. As master Yoda would put it, “Do or do not there is no try.”

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Work Cited

Adbusters. "Buy Nothing Day." www.adbusters.org. Adbusters, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2009.