Carroll County Times, November 26, 2008
Group: Don't shop on Black Friday
By Carrie Ann Knauer
Millions of shoppers nationwide will be hitting stores in the wee hours of Friday morning for what is expected to be record deals, but one Maryland group is promoting another idea: opting out.
Competing with Black Friday and its blitzkrieg of advertisements is difficult, but the Center for a New American Dream, based in Silver Spring, is supporting Buy Nothing Day.
“Black Friday, retailers want to do everything possible to get you through the doors,” said Latoya Peterson, a spokeswoman for the center.
The hype is built around buying gifts for the holidays, but many retailers rely on Black Friday and the month of December to balance out lower sales rates throughout the rest of the year, Peterson said.
Advertising and marketing have become such a part of the cultural landscape that people aren’t even aware of it, Peterson said. The main purpose of Buy Nothing Day is to help people realize just how many little purchases they make daily that they may not even need, largely due to marketing.
“Take a day off, look at what everyone’s trying to sell you,” Peterson said. “Instead, start spending on more of what really matters.”
Holidays should be about spending time with loved ones, she said, and gifts are often guilt money for not investing time in people.
With the struggling national economy, the pressure to keep spending this holiday season is high, Peterson said, with daily media reports about decreased consumer spending contributing to the economic downturn and the alluring lower prices on most goods.
But lower consumer spending isn’t what has led to the current recession, Peterson said. Leaders of the center’s board, including Juliet Schor, an economist and professor at Boston College, believe the opposite is true.
With workers’ wages having stagnated since the 1980s and more people buying more with credit since then, over-consumption without the funds to back it up is more to blame, Peterson said. However, there are many other factors that have nothing to do with consumers, she said, such as the bursting housing bubble and Wall Street excesses.
Many people choose not to take part in the early-bird specials and daylong sprees associated with Black Friday, but even consciously not buying anything can still be difficult, Peterson said.
Jennifer Nusbaum of Taneytown, who was at Target in Westminster Tuesday doing some last-minute shopping before Thanksgiving, said she’s never participated in Black Friday shopping, but her mother has.
“She said it was the worst experience and that she was getting trampled on,” Nusbaum said.
While she won’t be part of the madness Friday, she said it would probably take some planning to not make any purchases on Friday. Nusbaum said she thinks the idea is interesting, though, for people who would be willing to do it.
Jill Neiswender of Sykesville said she also doesn’t go shopping on Black Friday, but she is doubtful a Buy Nothing Day could ever be successful.
If people think everyone is staying home instead of shopping, more people would probably go out to avoid the crowds, she said.
Reach staff writer Carrie Ann Knauer at 410-857-7874 or carrie.knauer@carrollcountytimes.com.
What it is
The first Buy Nothing Day was held in Vancouver in the early 1990s to examine over-consumption issues.
It became an annual campaign for the Canadian magazine Adbusters, celebrated on Black Friday in Canada and the United States and the following Saturday in most other countries, according to the magazine’s Web site.