In September of 1992 in Canada the Buy Nothing Day originated as the way to protest against Black Friday shopping.This dayis a protest consumerism, and it is held on the day following U.S. Thanksgiving in North America, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom (Everywhere else, it is held on the day after).  The main idea of Buy Nothing Day is to urge the world to change their purchasing habits, to consume and produce less.

What is the consumerism?

From the dictionary, consumerism is ” the idea that increasing consumption of goods and services purchased in the market is always a desirable goal and that a person’s well-being and happiness depend fundamentally on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions.”  (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumerism.asp).

We can observe this process more clearly on Black Friday (27 of November 2020).

Negative side of consumerism:

1. The production of goods mainly wastes such natural resources as water and raw materials and the problem is that they are limited on our planet. Also, the increasing environmental pollution is the aftermath of production increasing.

2.  People feel that they really need to buy goods and services which they do not need just to belong to a specific group of people.

3.  The number of people taking short term loans to buy luxury goods has increased drastically.

4. Consumerism increases mental health problems cases such as depression, stress because people want to follow the latest trends and what is why they work harder, taking more debts, and spend less time with people who they love.

In conclusion:

Despite consumer culture helps in satisfying peoples’ needs, to expand production, and expand the economy, consumerism does not only feed our desires but has waste lots of earth’s resources. If people do not think about the natural resources and the things which they really need now or in the future more we will face the problems even in buying necessary products in the future, so in Buy Nothing Day I will advise you to think about consumerism deeper.