Several years ago, I interviewed some local people who follow this movement. Here's the story from 2004:

While much of the country spent yesterday waiting in lines to purchase holiday gifts, Julia Notar was in her Baltimore home sleeping off all the turkey she ate the day before.

 

    While shoppers drove through parking lots waiting for a space to open up close to the store, Notar watched television and caught up with her parents and her cousins visiting from Princeton, N.J. And while many racked up even more credit card debt taking advantage of post-Thanksgiving Day sales, Notar hung out with her childhood friends and listened to music.

 

    Consider it a tiny snub against what's become known as Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year as consumers heed the call to spend, spend, spend.

 

    "I just figure all of us buy things on an almost daily basis," said Notar, a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is studying biology. "What could be the harm in taking one day off and thinking about the things we buy? Do we really need all those things?

 

    "We're supposed to be giving thanks for what we have on Thanksgiving," Notar said. "I find it kind of ironic that we rush out shopping right afterward to go out and buy more."

 

    She wasn't the only one who chose to observe the little-known celebration called Buy Nothing Day. An estimated 1 million people around the world were expected to participate in the anti-consumerism holiday that was started in the early 1990s by Vancouver, Canada-based Adbusters Media Foundation, which aims to reduce the influence marketers have on the culture.

 

    Far from a sweeping revolution, the holiday has managed to gain a small but fervent group of followers.

 

    In Vancouver, participants held a shopaholics anonymous meeting. In New York, the activist and performance artist known as Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping members "exorcised" cash registers at Times Square businesses. Spoof ads for Buy Nothing Day ran on some radio stations in Los Angeles, while in other cities participants put up posters, marched around stores and demonstrated in some fashion, according to the Adbusters advocacy group.

 

    "What we're trying to do is wake people up," said Kalle Lasn, director of the foundation and editor in chief of its magazine, Adbusters. "We just want to point out that we are now consuming 300 percent more than since the end of World War II. But studies have shown we're no happier.

 

    "There's a pressure to live the American dream, to max out the credit cards for the holidays and pressure to consume," Lasn said. "We're just trying to get people to think before they buy."

 

    That won't be easy.

 

    The National Retail Federation is projecting almost $220 billion in sales this holiday shopping season, which is a slight bump up from last year.

 

    The NRF also says that consumers are expected to spend an average of $702 on the holidays, including an extra $89 on non-gift items for themselves or family members.

 

    Buy Nothing Day participants realize their act of defiance barely makes a dent in the holiday shopping blitzkrieg, but say it's worth it if their point reaches just one person who decides to abstain instead of purchasing yet another cashmere sweater.

 

    Even supporters of the movement can find it hard to make it through a single day without spending money, Lasn said. "We estimated that about 1 million actually took the personal plunge and said, `OK, I won't buy anything,'" Lasn said. "A third of them probably made it through the day. People have good intentions. They start off right, but then they succumb to a Mars bar or a cup of coffee.

 

    "They learn that buying stuff is like smoking," Lasn said. "Going cold turkey isn't easy."

 

    Notar agreed.

 

    Last year, she and her friends dressed up like sheep and wore matching T-shirts that said "Consumer Sheep" on the front and "Baaa Nothing Day" on the back. They walked through Towson Town Center, trying to persuade Black Friday shoppers not to shop. What they mostly got were strange looks and annoyed reactions from people. They also got kicked out of Abercrombie & Fitch.

 

    This year, she and her friends are taking a quieter route since she had no time to plan a demonstration after her mid-term exams at UCLA.

 

    "I know some of my friends hit the sales in the morning," Notar said. "But I'm still friends with them. I won't hold it against them. I don't see this changing the world or anything big, but maybe we'll get people thinking a little. Maybe they'll even join us next year."

 

    Notar should take heart. She had some company in Maryland this year. Jason Szech from Linthicum is taking a pass on Black Friday, too.

 

    He hung out with some friends.

 

    "I've read news reports of women being trampled on their way to buying DVD players at Wal-Mart," said Szech, a 21-year-old salesman at a music store who used his scheduled day off to stay away from the stores. "It seems absurd to me. Americans feel like they need products to keep them happy, you know, like the latest SUV or Burberry dog coat. It's ridiculous.

 

    "I'm not going to refrain totally from the entire holiday thing and the exchange-of-gifts thing, though," Szech added. "I'm just not going to base it on this one day."

Anyone out there participating in Buy Nothing Day this year? Holler at us and let us know what you plan on doing that day in lieu of shopping.

(image via adbusters.org)