Buy Nothing Day Research Paper

Title A typical American stereotype usually consists of being called obese, lazy, or that we are money wasters. We as Americans usually tend to spend money as we make it, not really thinking in the long term, but in the short term. Exemplifying this is the notorious Black Friday. This is a day where we, as Americans, come together and spend as much as we see fit. This results in numerous economic and effects, and even some environmental effects. One year Canada was fed up with the excessive consumerism and created the opposite of Black Friday: Buy Nothing Day. According to Adbusters (“Buy Nothing Day,” www.adbusters.org) this day was created to “expose the environmental and ethical consequences of overconsumption.” Clearly this is alluding
Thus my position on a Buy Nothing Day is mutual, this means that I am neither for nor against either side, but have points defending or attacking the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at an all-time high according to google finance (www.google.com/finance), which is a good indication that our economy is doing. It is a weighted indicator of how the stock market is doing, which in turn is a lot of people’s money. If it is up that means we have a growing economy and mostly everyone is happy. Pertaining to Black Friday, this is when most businesses’ get their shoppers. This is a time where you will see a big surge, or dip, in the stock market. Though these fluctuations in price are believed to only cause very-short term or long term effects, as said by Investopedia (How is the stock market affected by Thanksgiving and Black Friday? www.investopedia.com) They also stated that the long term effects still remain uncertain. Black Friday appears to be a big boost to big businesses and a dip for smaller ones; this is completely ridiculous. Buying products from all major businesses just hurts the economics for smaller businesses who cannot afford to advertise, to stoop prices as low as larger corporations.