The World - Special Dates - Buy Nothing Day

November 27 (in the past, Nov 24-25)

Buy Nothing Day 2010 UK FAQ about BND

Text abridged by your teacher, taken from Ad Busters
Underlined words link to the Merriam-Webster free on-line dictionary, where you can listen to their pronunciation after clicking on the loudspeaker.
Words in bald (negrita) are explained in the glossary below.

The 2005 tv spot

BND - NOVEMBER 25 2005
02 Days, 06 Hours, 08 Minutes, 35 Seconds to go!

For 24 hours, millions of people around the world do not participate - in the frantic consumer-binge that our culture has become. We pause. We make a small choice not to shop. Together we say: enough is enough. And we help build this movement to rethink our unsustainable course. This year, we've got a radical new tool to keep BND activists connected: JammerGroups. JammerGroups connect you with other activists in your area. Use them to strategize, organize, and take action.

TAKE THE PLUNGE
You wake up, stretch, yawn . . .just another morning . . . except, wait . . . isn't today. . . ? Didn't you make a little pact with yourself? To go on a consumer fast - to buy absolutely nothing for 24 hours? This is what most of the millions of participants around the world do on Buy Nothing Day: they struggle to overcome their most ingrained behavior. They go cold turkey on consumption for a day and see how it feels. Stepping out of the consumer stream, for even 24 hours, is a fascinating personal experiment. Will you react with Zen-like calm or panic? Will there be withdrawal, anxiety, an epiphany? Can you keep it up? Can you remember? People tell of strange and wondrous mind journeys when they close their wallets, bury consumer culture and change their daily routine. Are you up for the challenge?  

ACTIONS!: IDEAS FOR BND 2005
Here is a sampling of ways people mark the day. From culture jamming to neighborhood events to slacker protests, there's something for everyone. Click the images. Explore the ideas. Make them your own. Then, get set for the only real holiday.

SPREAD THE WORD
Enough with sitting at home thinking big thoughts. This year you're going take things to the next level - by helping to spread the word far and wide. It means starting now: telling friends, handing out flyers, postering, uploading web banners and printing t-shirts. It means getting the message out, by any means necessary. It means meme warfare. What is "meme"?! A meme is a unit of information (a catchphrase, a concept) that leaps from brain to brain to brain. Potent memes, like Buy Nothing Day, can change minds, alter behavior, and transform culture - which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our information age. Whoever has the memes has the power!!!

Here are your weapons: Posters , T-Shirts , Web Banner , Stickers , Clipart and Gift Exemption Vouchers

MEDIA JAM
And what would BND be without Media Jams? TV spots and a radio short are ready to use in your community. Ask your local news outlet if they'll run a free BND PSA (public service announcement). Or hold a fundraiser and buy an ad outright. "Locals" are often more willing than their parent corps to run so-called controversial content. Every year, to complement the thousands of community-level BND actions, Adbusters spearheads a major Media Jam that everyone helps pull off. This year's plan? To go big. Should we send the burping pig to CNN for all those suits watching "In the Money"?

DAY OF ACTIONS
Of course, Nov 25th is when it all really happens. We hit streets and malls of the world with our creative protest. Each year, people dream up - and act out - some amazing schemes. Many play with icons of the consumer landscape; jam the spectacle and routine of daily life; confront villainous corporations like Wal-Mart and Nike. There are thousands of actions to choose from. Here we've profiled three of our favorites:

The Credit Card Cut Up
Plant yourselves outside a local shopper's paradise with a Debt Help booth. A table, a pamphlet and a solid pair of scissors is all you'll need. "Excuse me, I discovered the perfect way to break out of the debt trap. Can I offer you some help?" Offer to cut up the shopper's credit card! It helps if you have a couple of friends with fake cards break the ice. Or cut up your own if you've got them!

Zombie Walk
Theatrics your thing? Are any of you willing to be Zombies at Protests? Put together a team of zombies - masks, ragged clothes - and head to the mall. Glassy-eyed and mindless, wheel a big cart or trolley through the ailes like a living dead.

Whirl-Mart (A Symbolic Show)
Picture a team of jammers in lab coats, quietly pushing empty shopping carts up and down Wal-Mart aisles. Fun enough.

Or, take it to the next level. Fill the carts with junk and buy it all. "On buy nothing day?," you ask. Yes. Do you remember return policies? Get your refund and start again. And again. And again. The line-ups can get a bit long, but hey, it's a great opportunity to talk with shoppers. Caution: Supermarket owners may lose their smiles under stress.

GLOSSARY (under construction)
SLACKER: slack pace, a paso de tortuga,
A shopping BINGE at the mall, a buying BINGE, is shopping in an unrestrained and excessive manner.
SUSTAINABLE development: desarrollo sostenido. UNSUSTAINABLE: insostenible.
JAM: (it means lots of things, but here: ) to make unworkable, to block, to obstruct. If you jam a checkout line at a supermarket, you are preventing consumers from buying things.
FAST: ayuno.
INGRAINED: from GRAIN,
COLD TURKEY: abrupt complete cessation of the use of an addictive drug also : the symptoms experienced by a person undergoing withdrawal from a drug
STEPPING OUT OF: como dicen "bajarse de".
WITHDRAWAL:
LEAPS: from to leap,
VOUCHER: certificado, recibo...