Within the Heart of the Media

Buy Nothing Day!

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day where people all over the world protest against consumerism observed by social activists. It was founded by a Vancouver artist named Ted Dave; the first Buy Nothing Day was September 1992 and was promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine. It was then moved to the Friday after Thanks Giving in America which is one of the busiest shopping days in the United States. Adbusters magazine states that it “isn’t just about changing your habits for one day, but about starting a lasting commitment to consuming less and producing less waste”. Which I agree with, we should not just be using this one day as the day where we are concerned with our over consumption, we should be considering it everyday. Although it is difficult to do so for a lot of people especially when it comes to holidays such as Christmas or other high holidays and the days following them such as boxing day in Canada. A Youtube video explains that the average North American consumes 5 times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person and 30 times more than a person in India! That’s Crazy!! When I heard that one side of me couldn’t believe it, while the other side of me was actually not that surprised, Americans and Canadians are large consumers in all areas, clothing or food or different products and the amount of things we throw away is even more ridiculous!
We live in a changing world due to the media and the mediums within it; we can use the media with the help of online videos and the support of magazines to make people around the world aware of Buy Nothing Day and to announce their protests world wide. Campaigns for Buy Nothing Day began to show up in the Unites States, UK, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway all with the help of technology and with the voice of the media. Technology is changing our world but when it comes to something such as making people aware of how things are affecting this us and how we can help change that, we thank the power of technology for making it possible to publicize this announcement.

Works Cited
‘Buy Nothing Day’ Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day

‘Buy Nothing Day, Nov 28 Black Friday Protest YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zNwWrtVoCI

posted by Brittany Pacitti's Mass Communications @ 6:25 AM