Put Down That Billfold

By Jennifer Maerz, deleted. Posted April 26, 2000.

Can you imagine buying nothing -- no food, gas, toothpaste, hairspray -- for 24 hours? What about staying home on Nov. 29 -- the biggest shopping day of the year and the start of the holiday season buying frenzy? As part of the fifth annual international Buy Nothing Day, (BND) Canada's non-profit Adbusters/Media Foundation is challenging consumers worldwide to stand up on this "holiest of all shopping days" against pressure from corporations and advertisers to buy, buy, buy. Under the slogan "participate by not participating," Adbusters/Media Foundation wants to educate the public about the industrialized nation's overconsumption of the earth's natural resources, said Adbusters/Media Foundation's Allan MacDonald. "We're concerned about the erosion of cultural and environmental welfare by commercial forces because commercial forces want you to buy yet buying creates so much waste."BND focuses on industrialized countries, specifically on North America. "We North Americans are public enemy number one: We represent just 5 percent of the world population, yet consume one-third of the planet's resources," said MacDonald. His organization's response is to challenge people to take part in this moratorium on consumer spending as a reminder that there is power in refusing to spend. BND is just the latest "demarketing" campaign by the organization that works to debunk the glamor of spending. The organization has created ads, for example, to deconstruct the onslaught of cigarette advertising. "Utter Fool" is a parody of Kool cigarettes and the powerful "Joe Chemo" -- which shows Joe Camel sick in a hospital bed, looking contemplatively at his sunglasses -- inform as well as entertain the readers.Unfortunately, many of these "subvertisements" don't make it past the pages of Adbusters. Many publications refuse to run the ads for fear of offending their advertisers. The same is true for the numerous television ads major stations turned away as "too controversial," even though Adbusters/Media Foundation is willing to pay for the spots. This year, NBC, CBS and ABC refused to run BND ads, which explain how the world's richest people are consuming so much that it's hurting poorer nations. In defense, the stations acknowledged the strings tied to their advertisers. "We don't want the business. We don't want to accept any advertising that's inimicable to our business interests," Richard Gitter, vice president of advertising standards at NBC told Adbusters/Media Foundation. Harvey Dzodin, vice president of program practices at CBS said, "Promotion of this event would be in violation of our policy on advertising controversial issues."Matthew Margo, CBS's vice president of program practices told Adbusters/Media Foundation, "We can't run your ad. It's an advocacy ad."Responding to such justifications is often frustrating. Kelle Lasn, president of the Media Foundation said the organization is contemplating legal action. "These are public airwaves," he said. "The networks should not be censoring messages like this." Television networks aren't the only ones reluctant to join in the campaign. Not surprisingly, some businesses are leery of BND as well. Still, there are a few that accept the risk of loosing money for a day to support a larger goal. Some businesses in the organization's native Canada have either shut down their shops for the day or simply close the cash register, explaining to customers the purpose of the campaign, said MacDonald. Adbusters/Media Foundation's MacDonald hopes people can see past the profit/loss aspect of consumerism. "People think of this [BND] as anti-business and anti-retail, and that it could throw the planet into unemployment," he said. "But the day is a token not to stop buying completely afterwards, but to gear down spending."

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