We just passed the day often described as the "biggest shopping day of the year" and every weekend the malls are flooded with shoppers. I see headlines about shoppers being injured in mad rushes to grab the hottest deals, and the stores are beginning to advertise that there are only "16 More Shopping Days ‘til Christmas!"
Personally, I look at this corporate monstrosity that the holidays have become and can't help but wonder, “Is this what our society has become?"
There are some reassurances, however few and far between. One of them is the movement by Adbusters against the corporate takeover of Christmas.
Adbusters describes itself as a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance a new social activist movement for the information age. Their aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century.
One of their largest projects is known as "Buy Nothing Day," an international protest every year on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is described as 24 hours to remember that no one was born to shop, and intended to make a statement against what I call the "corporatism" of the holiday season.
Adbusters also advocates the greater effect of a "buy nothing Christmas" and on their Web site they offer gift exemption vouchers, anti-corporate Christmas carols, and a peacefully levitating Santa. That Web site is www.adbusters.org.
I haven't decided what I'm going to do for the holidays...whether I'm going to buy anything for my friends and family or try to find other ways of showing my appreciation. But just because I'm opposed to the corporate takeover of the holidays doesn't mean I don't have holiday spirit. Like Dr. Seuss said in his book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store...maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more."
Corporate holiday commentary
