Buy Nothing Day  #OCCUPYXMAS

So there’s all this crap out today about Black Friday, and about the scuffles, the tramples, the pepper-spraying, etc., all to be found in abundance today at the mall, apparently.

What if – what if you don’t have to do any of this? In fact, if you really do hate corporate greed and want to hit them back in the only place they care about – their pocketbook – a strategy you might consider is Buy Nothing Day, brought to you by Adbusters. You might have heard of adbusters – they’ve been around for more than a decade, trying to point out to people about the insidious power of advertising (take that, Don Draper!).

They also provided the match that lit Occupy Wall Street. So this is an act of “disobedience” that’s unbelievably easy to implement – simply don’t go shopping today. No driving to stores. No online clicking with credit card. Just. Don’t. Do. It.

Do something else, for instance: Nap. Read. Watch TV. Go to a Movie (or two). Go to the Gym. Go for a Hike. Clean the house. Try new recipes for Thanksgiving leftovers. Make love with your partner, spouse, or a new friend (or all 3). Read to a child. Take your pet out. Chat with your neighbors. See, that took me all of 30 seconds to type out, who knows what I’d think of if I really put my mind to it! Continue reading →