American Standard: Buy Nothing Days

by Benn Ray

Lately, friends keep forwarding me announcements about an upcoming 'Buy Nothing Day' 'protest'.

This is a form of protest designed to stick it to The Man where he lives, in the wallet. The idea is to get everyone to buy nothing on a prescribed day to send The Man a message.

The problem is this form of "protest" is complete bullshit.

This Buy Nothing Day coming up is the second one people have tried to organize in as many months. Their goal is to send a message to George Bush and the businesses he looks out for that we, the people, ain't too happy with the shit that's been going down.

Yes, sending a message to entities that have demonstrated a complete indifference to what others think sounds like a productive use of time.

Who are the businesses that these protests want to target to "send a message" to? The big corporate ones, right? Target. Wal-Mart. Etc.

Think about it. The concept is sweet. All of a sudden, McDonalds loses 50% of its sales in a day, that's gotta be pretty damaging, right?

Yeah. And you know who "hears" this message the loudest should this sort of protest achieve its goal? It's not the big corporate box stores, the supposed intended targets of the protest - they are the sorts of businesses that most people who would participate in a Buy Nothing Day shouldn't be shopping at in the first place. No, the ones who get "the message" are small, independent, mom & pop businesses.

See, Wal-Mart has deep enough pockets to withstand a day of drastically decreased sales. Marginal indie businesses do not.

Small, independent business are trying to survive in an environment that's already hostile and stacked against them in the first place. This Buy Nothing "protest" actually helps the very people you are trying to send a message to by thinning out the indie flock. At its most basic, a Buy Nothing Day Protest is an attack on the very businesses that you should, in fact, support.

Let's say 10% of the population hears of the Buy Nothing Day Protest and goes along with it (we're talking optimistic, best case scenario); an unexpected loss of 10% of a day's revenue hurts an independent business struggling day to day to pay employees and the rent far more profoundly than it harms a Best Buy.

A day of no sales to many small businesses can mean a day where they don't eat. It doesn't much help waiters, waitresses or bartenders who rely on tips. This protest is a sham. It victimizes the very people who are already being victimized by big business and our Neo-Con government.

These Buy Nothing "protests" also feed in to the concept of Lazy Protest that has been gaining popularity since the late 80s. It's the notion that you can affect change by doing nothing. Change can only be made through action, not inaction. So don't delude yourself that you're sending a message by saving your money (when most people will just spend it at a Target sooner or later) or sitting at home not involving yourself in something. You're taking yourself out of the fight.

This Buy Nothing Day Protest hurts the wrong people, helps the wrong people and is an attempt to "send a message" to a group of people who have already proven that they don't listen to messages.

For example, a few weeks ago I emailed Target and said I didn't feel comfortable shopping with them as long as they gave a majority of their political contributions to Republican candidates.

Here's their response:
Target Corporation contributes to political candidates and parties based upon our corporate business agenda. The recipients of any contributions from Target would generally be perceived or known to be supportive of these business objectives.

Translation: tough shit, commie.

Does that sound like big business is going to listen to anything you have to say?

To everyone forwarding the emails around announcing/supporting the upcoming Buy Nothing Day Protest, to the organizations who are helping try to organize this, please stop.

I understand your desire to protest, to speak out, to fight, but this protest makes you a tool of Corporate America by helping to further destabalize an already marginal independent business market.

Need some ideas on what to do, how about reading one of these books on Buy Nothing Day:
What We Do Now - Dennis Loy Johnson (editor)
MoveOn's 50 Ways To Love Your Country - MoveOn.org
How To Get Stupid White Men Out Of Office - William Upski Wimsatt/Adrienne Maree Brown (editors)
The I Hate Corporate America Reader - Clint Willis / Nate Hardcastle (editors)
Project Censored Guide To Independent Media And Activism - Peter Phillips (editor)
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy - Greg Palast
The Civil Disobedience Handbook - James Tracy
How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America (And The World)  And What You Can Do About It - Bill Quinn