Buy Nothing Day

[FridgeMagnet]

Another thing which occurred to me which is irritating about BND - it's the same ethos as all of the finger-wagging that's been in the news about the Credit Crunch. Oh no it's all down to people spending what they can't afford, they need to look at what's really important instead of buying all those big tellies and flights abroad. As opposed to people being forced into the position where they have to borrow money to live in a house, or get education or healthcare, because some cunt's monopolised it all.

 

[DotCommunist]

I emptied the penny jar for my bottle of Frosty Crack cider tonight. Copper off-setting.

 

[Geri]

I took stuff back - surely that counts as double?

 

[embree]

I bought a bacon, sausage and egg baguette from the sarny shop downstairs and and a pizza and some coke.

I'm so sorry

 

[maomao]

I'm drunk, I can't remember if I left the house today or not. If I did I probably spent money.

 

[Geri]

Judging by the amount of people I saw in town today, I can't imagine that the message got through at all. There were queues of 10-15 people in most shops I went in, it was doing my head in.

 

[madzone]

It's a stupid message.

 

[gentlegreen]

I don't buy much stuff these days anyway. I try to live at the level of the minimum wage.
I've even stopped heating my room.

I reckon it's Sundays when consumer society is most visible - probably made even more frantic by being limited to 10 am to 4pm.

 

[Badgers]

Train tickets
Cigarettes
Newspaper
iPhone app
Two rounds in the pub
Lent someone £20 for a taxi (got it back today so does that count?)
Also ran hot water, used electric, had radiotors on and probably some other stuff I can't recall

How did I do?

 

[rikwakefield]

I participated without even knowing it was going on

 

[behemoth]

Me too. Was in the middle of five 12 hour nightshifts and was too busy/tired/ill to buy anything. Where do I get my medal?

 

[Bristly Pioneer]

Well done everyone

As said below, obviously BND is a gimmick however it does raise an important point about our consumption. Yes it's stupid to ask people to buy nothing, especially when most of us are living on less than ever, however the marketing, advertising and pressure to buy cheap shite made by kids which will fall apart in a week or two is higher than ever. That's what BND is about, not some holier than thou competition to see who can buy the least.

Text from the Space Hijackers action:

What is Buy Nothing Day?
BND is a day where we encourage people to buy nothing! It is a day where we curb our consumption, where we look at what we are buying and why? Most importantly it’s a moment to take a break and look at the way our world is run, and the way it’s falling apart at the seams.

Why Buy Nothing?
We’re all skint, but we face more marketing than ever before. From the moment we’re born, till the moment we die we face a barrage of advertising, telling us our life will be better if we have this coat, eat in that restaurant, drive that car, buy these toys. So we chase the unobtainable, when we fail what do we do? Comfort eat and comfort shop. We work our fingers to the bone to buy our chance at free time, everything becomes a commodity, our social relations are inspected and marketed back to us, but we’re more depressed than ever before. A quick fix in TopShop or Selfridges isn’t the answer.

Then we look at our planet, as it groans under the weight of our consumerism. We empty our rubbish into landfill like never before, we drive more, we fly our food around the world and big business gets ever bigger. Small independent shops can’t keep up and so our streets fill with Starbucks, McDonalds, GAP, TopShop and we all end up looking the same, eating the same, thinking the same.
Isn’t it time for a change? We haven’t got long left.

But I still need clothes to wear, I still need to eat?
Obviously BND is a gimmick, it’s a one day break from the cycle of consumerism, but it’s also an important moment to reflect. We all need clothes, but do we really need another pair of jeans? Can’t you just fix your old ones? We all need to eat, but where does your food come from? We all like to treat ourselves, and others, but some poor child is probably working in some horrible factory in near slave conditions to produce these treats.

The way we all live in the west is unsustainable, it wrecks the planet and ruins the lives of people the world over. So yes, keep eating, keep wearing clothes, but perhaps get a bike rather than a car, perhaps support a local independent store, and perhaps buy fair trade drinks (Not Starbucks), best still perhaps invest in a needle and thread, and perhaps think about creating your own style rather than simply buying whatever we’re told is cool this season. Life will soon get a whole load more interesting, cheaper, more free and more fun.

www.spacehijackers.org

 

[Jon-of-arc]

They should have it just before my pay day, rather than just after. I'll be able to feel all smug and righteous about it then, as well.

And for those that did "buy nothing" - did you not pay your landlord for that day? Use your mobile, or internet, or leccy or water? Did you stock up on fags and food the day before? If anyone truly fasted from all forms of consumption on that day, then they probably got cold, wet, hungry and agitated. They really stuck it to the man, right there. Go them!

 

[Bristly Pioneer]

That's exactly the wrong end of the stick though isn't it.

Every year there is a thread on U75 about "fuck the middle class hippies, I'm buying loads of shit today! ah ha ha ha!"

It's so fucking dull, obviously BND isn't about smug gits shopping for their essentials the day before and then spending a day looking down on the mugs who have to buy stuff. It's about the fact we all face a world where everything is brokered through transactions. We face more adverts and pressure to buy shite everyday, and the people that make it all design it so that you have to come back in a few months to upgrade / replace / fix whatever it is you thought you needed.

fuck that for the future, surely there is a different way of having social relationships and a less commercial culture we could move towards.

 

[Refused as fuck]

In essence, you're complaining about Capitalism's drapes. They're too harsh on the eyes, and you had to buy sunglasses to look at them. You want to persuade everyone not to buy the sunglasses so that Capitalism will be forced to change their drapes to those of a less offensive pattern.

After the revolution, I will hang you with the drapes.

 

[Lo Siento.]

has this been rebranded as a "personal challenge" now? I thought it was an anti-system protest!111!!!!11 before.

 

[Jon-of-arc]

fuck that for the future, surely there is a different way of having social relationships and a less commercial culture we could move towards.

and you see bnd as a viable way to achieve this?

it's a pointless, flawed non-protest which even the sort of people this type of thing appeals to (those who might boycott a specific product/company for the right reason) laugh at as non-sensical and pretentious.

And no one participates, either. Including the people who pretend to. We are all constantly paying to live life, one way or another. Rent, bills, food, public services, they all cost FUCKING MONEY, sooner or later. If you think you participated then you're even more of a fuck wit than you already coming across as.

 

[Bristly Pioneer]

In essence, you're complaining about Capitalism's drapes. They're too harsh on the eyes, and you had to buy sunglasses to look at them. You want to persuade everyone not to buy the sunglasses so that Capitalism will be forced to change their drapes to those of a less offensive pattern.

After the revolution, I will hang you with the drapes.

Er, No,

It's not the fact that we face too much marketing, too much shite. It's that capitalism forces us into a profit and transaction based culture, where even the smallest part of your life is marketed back at you for a cost. Captalism is the problem which creates this economy based social interaction.

BND is about pointing out that we all waste too much of our time indulging in this shite, and we don't even need it most of the time. So lets stop for a second and see the system for what it is (something that exploits us all), rather than chasing those unobtainable ideals through shopping.

 

[Bristly Pioneer]

and you see bnd as a viable way to achieve this?

Not really no, I see it as an awareness raising exercise.

It's a moment to take stock of things, it's not the glorious day, it is quite fun though, and that's something protest is often missing.

 

[smokedout]

Text from the Space Hijackers action:

yay, more meaningless, apolitical waffle from the spacehijackers

 

[smokedout]

Not really no, I see it as an awareness raising exercise.

It's a moment to take stock of things, it's not the glorious day, it is quite fun though, and that's something protest is often missing.

raising awareness about what, the horrible plebs who shop at primark

 

[ajdown]

It's a moment to take stock of things, it's not the glorious day, it is quite fun though, and that's something protest is often missing.

... and then just buy the same stuff you were going to buy but one day later, thus overall achieving absolutely nothing.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

That's exactly the wrong end of the stick though isn't it.

Every year there is a thread on U75 about "fuck the middle class hippies, I'm buying loads of shit today! ah ha ha ha!"

It's so fucking dull, obviously BND isn't about smug gits shopping for their essentials the day before and then spending a day looking down on the mugs who have to buy stuff. It's about the fact we all face a world where everything is brokered through transactions. We face more adverts and pressure to buy shite everyday, and the people that make it all design it so that you have to come back in a few months to upgrade / replace / fix whatever it is you thought you needed.

fuck that for the future, surely there is a different way of having social relationships and a less commercial culture we could move towards.

But it's not about that - oh, I suppose you could take that message out of it if you like, but you'd have to try quite hard to prise it out. In fact it always has come out as crudely anti-consumerist and, like a lot of crude anti-consumerism, based on a straw man sheeple consumer sitting there buying whatever The Man tells them to BAA BAA. GET OUT THERE SHEEPLE AND PLAY SCRABBLE WITH PEOPLE IN SHOREDITCH.

I mean look at some of the stunts that form the public face of BND:

Zombie Walk: Participant ‘zombies’ wander around shopping malls or other consumer havens with a blank stare and marvel at the expressionless faces of the shoppers (their fellow zombies). When asked what they are doing participants describe Buy Nothing Day and explain its foundational principles.

fuck off you cocks

When I was younger I thought it was a sort of vaguely good idea though a bit confused, but when I was younger I bought Adbusters a few times without scowling, too.

I see somebody did a "Steal Something Day" in 1999 - the Wikipedia reference is to Urban actually....

 

[untethered]

The original Buy Nothing Day was Sunday, but sadly a supposedly conservative government put paid to that.

Keep Sunday special. Have a buy nothing day every week.

 

[Refused as fuck]

BND is about pointing out that we all waste too much of our time indulging in this shite, and we don't even need it most of the time. So lets stop for a second and see the system for what it is (something that exploits us all), rather than chasing those unobtainable ideals through shopping.

Profound. Drapes, you, hanged.

 

[tar1984]

But I see somebody did a "Steal Something Day" in 1999

That's a much better idea.

 

[Geri]

has this been rebranded as a "personal challenge" now? I thought it was an anti-system protest!111!!!!11 before.

I set myself personal spending challenges all the time. Last year I spent approx. £700 on handbags, and this year it's only just over £100.

 

[Lo Siento.]

I set myself personal spending challenges all the time. Last year I spent approx. £700 on handbags, and this year it's only just over £100.

I spent nothing on handbags last year. WIN.

 

[fredfelt]

The original Buy Nothing Day was Sunday, but sadly a supposedly conservative government put paid to that.

Keep Sunday special. Have a buy nothing day every week.

I tend to agree with you. I accept that it's all about choice these days but I do miss a day that is different from the rest of the week. Sure you can make it different but many are forced to work and it's just another day.

Nothing to do with religion, maybe some of it is looking back on Sunday as being the only day I spent with my family and this is viewed through rose tinted glasses.

It also seems somehow less efficient that shops are open every day where where as before we managed to cope with one day of rest.

Buy Nothing Day seems similar to other 'special' days. It just happens that other special days revolve around consumption - or at least the market economy we live in push us in this direction.

Of course if you take apart other special days and look at them for what they are they all very quickly look ridiculous.

 

[boskysquelch]

I see somebody did a "Steal Something Day" in 1999 - the Wikipedia reference is to Urban actually....

http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2009/12/02/april-15-steal-something-from-work-day/

hth