Buy Nothing Day | |
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Type | Cultural |
Significance | Protest against consumerism |
Date | Day after U.S. Thanksgiving |
2023 date | November 24 |
2024 date | November 29 |
2025 date | November 28 |
2026 date | November 27 |
Frequency | Annual |
First time | September 1992 |
Related to | Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday, Small Business Saturday, Giving Tuesday, Thanksgiving |
Part of a series on |
Anti-consumerism |
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Buy Nothing Day is a day of protest against consumerism. In North America, the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden, Buy Nothing Day is held the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, concurrent with Black Friday; elsewhere, it is held the following day, which is usually the last Saturday in November.[1][2]
Created by artist Ted Dave and promoted by magazine and nonprofit Adbusters, Buy Nothing Day encourages people not to shop for one day. Participants may participate in a variety of anti-consumerist and philanthropic activities, such as donating winter coats or marching through stores. Some activists have also extended Buy Nothing Day to cover the entire Christmas shopping season. As of 2001, Buy Nothing Day was observed in over 35 countries. In the late 1990s, Adbusters created a TV commercial to promote Buy Nothing Day in the US, but most television stations refused to air it. Some commentators, particularly business groups, have criticized the event, claiming that it is economically destructive.