When everything costs an arm and a leg, maybe the only rationale thing to do is to buy nothing?
The idea isn’t new, stretching back until at least the 19th century. In 1992, a Canadian artist named Ted Dave adapted criticisms of conspicuous consumption into Buy Nothing Day – a symbolic single day of the year that encouraged people to think about the effects they were having on both inequality and the planetary ecosystem through the things they were purchasing.
Adbusters, a Vancouver-based leftist magazine and non-profit, picked up that message and in 1997 tied it to Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving that kicks off the holiday shopping season.
Adbusters co-founder Kalle Lasn joins Do Not Pass Go this week as we head into our annual consumerist smorgasbord to talk about how Buy Nothing Day is merely the tip of the iceberg, leading to what he calls the “third force” – a new kind of politics that seeks to rein in and limit corporate power and that accounts for ecological well-being rather than just pure economic growth.
Along with limiting corporate market share, requiring stock buyers to hold their purchases for at least 24 hours and imposing the idea of “True Cost” – adding the ecological damage of products and services to their price – Lasn shares his vision for a “worldwide revolution” that can allow humanity to survive the 21st century.
Tune in for the literally radical conversation, man, and if it’s your kind of jam, head to adbusters.org for more.
