Assignment #4, Really: Adbusters

I guess I'll call this assignemnt 4 as well. I might have made up the number for my previous #4. . . However, here is today's assignement that I will write: "For your blog assignment #4 take a look at the website "Adbusters." Cruise through the site until you find something interesting--something about which you have an opinion or can take a stand. You might have to do some further research before you can come to some conclusions. Then in your blog tell us what you have to say, tell the whole world what to think about this issue. Use links to other sites to support your message."

When scanning the Adbusters site, I came across the article about Buy Nothing Day. Now I am not a big shopper, I just have never enjoyed stores very much as they are often crowded and usually I end up buying things I do not need. Also, I believe that consumerism is a problem in that we buy for the sake of buying. We watch commercials that make us want things, we go to the store and buy those things, however we never needed the things to begin with. I think it would be interesting to live without for a while. Not without the things we need, but without the things we want. These things including television, video games, computers -- maybe a vacation at Amish Acres. But I am getting a bit off of topic.

The idea of Buy Nothing Day is for people to take back control and not shop. For a whole day. Is it possible to do this? Especially around Christmas? I wonder if we would buy any gifts for our family and friends if we only bought someone a gift that we thought they needed. Would your brother get anything? I know I would be doing a lot less shopping for my husband's siblings. Not that I don't love them, but I don't think that they need anything. I think we buy them things to have bought them something.

Looking further into the ideas on Buy Nothing Day, I came across Buy Nothing Christmas. They ask "But wait. Without the plastic gifts, how will you show you care?" Then they have people post ways to show you care at Christmas without the buying of "plastic gifts." So many ideas were posted from giving to charity, buying things for those who are in need, giving homemade gifts, and just spending time with those you love.

If you type "Christmas Gifts" into Google's Search Engine, you get 33,900,000 hits, the first one being a website www.christmasgifts.com. Seriously? That is one way to ensure a non-personal gift. I went to this website and it offered me a list of everything that I can purchase in any category and then linked me to stores that sold each item. This alone states the problem of consumerism today. So look the site up, and even if buying nothing for Christmas is too much for you, do celebrate Buy Nothing Day on November 26 and go ahead and buy nothing that day.