Black Friday: What Would Jesus Buy?

Hi. My name is Olivia. I'm a recovering shopaholic. I used to work in the corporate headquarters of a massive retailer. The mall was my spot, shopping a leisure sport, weekends an all out paycheck-annihilating bender; birthdays and Christmas justified a binge. This Friday is going to be especially difficult for me. It's Black Friday, also known as "the day after Thanksgiving," or "the biggest shopping day of the year." I'm scared.

Yes, this Friday malls across America will open at 5 AM to crowds of deal-hungry, coupon-carrying, insatiable holiday shoppers. For the first time since I can remember, I will not be joining the consumer feeding frenzy. Instead, I will be participating in Buy Nothing Day, a 24-hour shopping fast in celebration of the fact that we (the all-inclusive consumer) don't need more sh*t.

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism organized by Adbusters, a not-for-profit global anti-consumerist organization. The international shopping moratorium has started to gain mainstream recognition as people, my shopaholic self included, realize unrestrained consumption is a major contributor to environmental catastrophe.

Adbusters

All over the world people are taking on the 24-hour shopping detox. In Japan, a group called Zenta Claus will lead, "stop-shopping meditations." In London, the Forest Recycling Project will hold a bric-a-brac exchange. In the US, partakers from North Dakota to Texas, plan to use the rare day off to spend more time with their families and less time at the mall.

In New York City, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping will gather in the busiest of shopping areas to preach against the commercialization of Christmas. Singing anti-consumer carols and asking the question, "What would Jesus buy?" Reverend Billy believes a "shopocalypse" is upon us if we do not confront the empty promises of commercialism.

While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters' president and founder, Kalle Lasn, 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. Driving hybrid cars and limiting industrial emissions is great‚ but they are band-aid solutions if we don't address the core problem, consumption."

Lasn believes that while most participants used to see the day simply as an escape from the marketing mind games and frantic consumerism that have come to characterize modern life, the focus has since shifted in light of the new political mood surrounding climate change.

Bottom line: as consumers we need to question the products we buy and challenge the companies who produce them. We need to ask, what are the true risks to the environment and developing countries?

Although it looks like a lot of fun, I don't plan to join Reverend Billy's brigade this Friday. I'm just going to challenge myself to chill out, enjoy the day with my family, and as corny as it sounds, switch off from shopping and tune into life (wow, that was really corny). Join me as I spend a day without spending, participating by not participating, indulging by not indulging. Come on, doesn't free time away from long lines and panic-inducing crowds sound nice?

Adbusters

Follow Olivia Zaleski on Twitter: www.twitter.com/oliviazaleski

Comments

[BRUMALIA]

Jesus would not be buying anything.

[MrCoffeeCup]

What would Jesus Buy for his own Birthday Party.

A nice pair of new jeans! Levi's of Course!

[zeldaM]

Why does all the spending and giving for charity have to be done at a particular time of year? Why not give a little all the time? I sometimes feel like a broken record, but it all starts at home. Parents can start from day one. Parents can set an example. They can also teach their children the difference between need and want. They can keep the media out of their bedrooms and control how much they see. They can watch with their children and teach them to see through the consumerism promoted through the media. They can teach their children to be proud they aren't pawns of the media. They can set the example and teach their children by not promoting having things and being showy as the way to a strong sense of self image. Children can be taught that the way to being strong and proud of themselves comes from accomplishment and doing good. And it can be done without religion.

[fullorage]

Our entire economy is based on constant growth and continuous escalating consumption. Life as we know it cannot go on forever. Consumption has ravaged the planet and the environment in which we live. Fouled water, tainted food and polluted air and extinction is what we reap from the poison seed of consumerism.We must return to a sustainable model of living or we will all pay the price for our shortsight­edness.Thi­s holiday season lets all try to consume less and give back a little more to the earth and the world.

[LaraineNewman]

I really appreciated your article as it articulated my sentiments when seeing ads for this phenomenon of stores opening at 4:00 and 5:00 a.m.
This seemed like the height of gluttony and a kind of 'night of the living consumer'. So many people looking for that kind of savings, really don't need and shouldn't be buying these things. There have been alarming statistics of how many people of a certain generation aren't 'saving'..­...anythin­g, as in 'nest egg' or 'emergency fund'. Its the same mentality that doesn't vote.

[Computer Geek]

How do you define ethics and values? We live in a country that promotes consumerism, advertisers sell us on it beginning at birth, the government panders to it, and most people do not give it a second thought. Logic and reason are not the strong suit of Americans (belief and fear seem to be).

Good luck in trying to break a chain of thought and mindless habit that people in this country have bought into and permeates this society!

Unfortunately, on a site like this, you are most likely preaching to the chorus as I believe most people who are here are more informed than the general public (even though it has been seen by the comments that some people didn't 'get it' until it was explained).

[Sciguy]

Buying is not a bad thing. Even buying crap is not a bad thing. Some of us (me) adore the Black Friday crowds; I get a chance to meet and gab with new people and while away part of a day in shopping heaven.

Buying too much crap *is* a bad thing. However, if the money is not sequestered, it keeps circulating, and that is a good thing.

My Adult Ed class was learning about banking and money the other day. We did a demo: I earned a dollar by teaching. I bought a pencil from one of my learners for $1. She bought a neck rub from another student for $1. He bought some paper from yet another student for $1. That same dollar kept 4 people afloat. If any one of my students had decided to keep the dollar in a mattress instead of spending it, the others would have had no income.

One problem with buying too much crap is that we end up with nothing left for our true needs. Another problem is that we also spend non-dollar capital by ruining the environment with the byproducts of all of that crap: huge mounds of post-sale used and broken crap, huge mounds of pre-sale manufacturing waste, and huge wads of energy expended all along the manufacturing pathway, from extraction of raw materials to disposal of leftovers. We can ameliorate this by buying products that are more environmentally gentle whenever we can.

One adage from bygone days: use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

That said - What Would Jesus Buy? I dunno - maybe a handmade mezuzah. As for me... I really do need a new ShopVac, and there's a good one one sale at 5 AM on Black Friday. (Gee, I wonder how many of my fellow shoppers will be standing out in the cold tomorrow morning for the sole purpose of buying a ShopVac? And What Would Jesus Suction With?)

[Macready]

Question for purposes of clarification . . . think have I finally gotten it . . this guy isn't a jesus freak . . . correct? . . . he is sending up jesus freaks and American consumerism . . . correct?

[aznurse]

One of the hardest things about giving is not bragging about it.

[vivibear]

Cute. Yoga Santa Claus!!

[dgscol]

By boycotting Chinese goods, we are stopping, what should be, an illegal activity, like pornography. The Chinese just subsist, and they face physical intimidation, and whipping, and exposure to toxins. We are addicted to buying these products, we would be better off, without.

Just the idea of our politicians deliberately leaving our children exposed to toxins in these toys, many of which continue to go untested, makes me so angry. Testing and reporting was not allowed under WTO rules for a period of five years. They could not even leak this to us; I guess they lost their conscience.

[jnik]

WWJB? A ladder and some pliers.

[Maplebird]

I can remember many years of relying on my creative talents to make gifts when funds were short. Now that I have a full-time job, part of every pay cheque goes to a local charity that helps children improve their reading and writing skills. As for my family and friends, they will continue to get my hand-made gifts. My nieces’ shrieks of joy when they get a one-of-a-kind, hand-made purse or doll are a great gift to me. Since they are now old enough that I can show them how I made their gifts, they can spend a few hours having fun with their wacky aunt, having no idea that they’re learning skills and giving more back to me than they’ll ever know.
Of course, this could also have a large residual effect on the global economy. Locally-sourced, hand-made gifts mean fewer fumes in the atmosphere, fewer sweatshops, et cetera. Sure, there is only one of me right now, but I am teaching anyone who’ll listen (at the moment, that’s about ten people). If each of them then teaches ten people apiece, that makes one hundred. After only five rounds, that would amount to one million people choosing to make locally-sourced gifts (if we went seven rounds, it would mean one billion people!!). Yes, it would mean less money in the pockets of the rich, but it would mean we might continue to have a planet to pass along to our children.
We learn by example. What really matters is doing something to invest in the lives of those around you in your own community. We have the power and the knowledge to save ourselves. And not that I have any idea what Jesus ever thought or felt, but if I were in his sandals, I’d say it is more blessed to give than to receive, but it is most blessed to give of yourself. Now put that gadget back, get out of the mall, and go play with your kids.

[elleanee]

Go, Olivia, I intend to join you in not buying an effin' thing on Friday. What I'd like to do is remember how grateful I am for all the people and things in my life and spend the day in the state of bliss those thoughts create for me. Also, I've stopped the consumer buying frenzy for Christmas. It feels so good just to be with family and friends without the need to buy them something. The whole thing is pretty silly when you think about it.

[sharpsteve]

Everyone should spend as much as they can this season. Then on Dec 26th, normally the biggest day for sales of the year, return everything and tell them the reason is we are not going to keep giving corporations all our money for products that used to be made by Americans with good pay and health coverage but are now made with child slave labor, mercury tainted paint, and whatever else we don't know about yet.