People seem to think the products and brands they own create their identity. As the picture above states you are not what you buy – products are merely things we have in our life. Only you can decide who you are, and not by the things you associate yourself with. Products can help our lives by making it easier to do certain activities. Such as a phone to communicate, or a jacket to keep you warm. Do we really need that production line – the same product in every colour? Why are we wasting our money on something that will only provide short-term happiness? Products create clutter and confusion to a market when there was the norm and the few choices that we relied on to survive. Why do we buy things when we probably don’t even need/will use them. For example, I have plenty of never worn clothes in my closet. Will I wear them? Probably not. Was it a waste of money? Yes. What’s going to happen to them? They’ll probably sit there until I throw them out. Advertisers manipulate us to feel like we NEED their product through their fancy, or easier lifestyle created through an ad. They want us to consume, and consume some more so at the end of their day their company is making profits and fueling a capitalist society.
International Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, Canada in 1992 by social activists. Since then, the campaign has run each year during the end of November. The campaign is an international day of protest against consumerism, education people about our unnecessary over consumption of goods. The day was promoted in Adbusters magazine, which is an anti-consumerist publication.
The day is participated in more than 40 countries.
Adbusters believes it isn’t about changing habits for one day, but about making a lifestyle change to consume less and produce less waste.
Kalle Lasn, brainchild of the campaign and avid culture jammer said “we [north americans] are the most voracious consumers in the world … A world … could die because of the way we North Americans live. Give it a rest. November 24 is Buy Nothing Day.”
Culture Jam: Hijacking Mainstream Media 