Skip the Chaos and Do a Black Friday Spending Fast on November 23, 2012

Perhaps you'll recall that a few years ago on black Friday (the day after thanksgiving), overzealous shoppers trampled a seasonal Wal-Mart worker (meaning a guy who did not even have a regularWal-Mart Job) to death. This is what happens when rampant consumerism meets pack mentality. This year, rather than providing more protection to workers, Wal-Mart plans to allay shoppers’ anxiety about not scoring the big Black Friday deals by opening at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Target is  responding in kind by opening at 9:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving, causing the typically minimum-wage workers to lose one of the few days all year they can reliably spend with thier families. 

Before you cut your own turkey day short to hit the stores, consider a few more reasons not to shop.  First, we consumers are finally getting a little economic recovery of our own.  Be it through repayment or write-offs, credit card debt is down.  Why ruin a good trend by buying a bunch of stuff no one wants? Second, most people do not want all the garbage you give them during the holidays.

I invite you to join millions of others on November 23 and stop consuming for 24 hours. Ignore the Black Friday sales and challenge yourself to go cold turkey from consumer culture for one day. As reported on adbusters, you may be rewarded with a life-changing shift of perspective – a glimpse into how to consume less and live more on this precarious planet of ours.