Today is known in retail as "Black Friday", the day retailers customarily start jacking up the holiday buying frenzy with fevered sales pitches and early bird specials. Most stores open the day after Thanksgiving at about 5:00 am, some as early as 1:00 am. In many places people camp out in parking lots at the mall in order to be first in line to buy a Wii, Gameboy, plasma TV or the latest gadget they're sure they cannot live without, at rock bottom prices.
People get cranky, nasty and even violent sometimes in the greedy rush for more, more, more!
Not me, baby. I stay as far away from stores as I possibly can today.
Black Friday is also known in some more subversive circles as "Buy Nothing Day", a concept started 17 years ago by Adbusters magazine to shed light on the American drive to consume, consume, consume.
So, do what I'm doing today...having a cup of coffee and a slice of pumpkin pie, visiting with friends, making stuff in the studio, and letting my credit cards cool down.In fact, stay tuned. On December 3rd I'll be participating in Give Away Day...I'll be giving away handmade items to two lucky readers.
Happy Buy Nothing Day!
first three photos courtesy of Reuters
all others courtesy of AdBusters.org
2 comments:
I like it. I posted today that I didn't want to go anywhere near a store!
I took the Handmade Pledge and I'm only giving Handmade or vintage this Christmas. It has really set me free--no Target, no Macy's. It's awesome.
I like this idea too. Thanks. Next year!
On Friday we went to the Alameda Swap Meet. All we bought was 4 tacos and 2 agua frescas.
All we took away with us was photos.
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