LESSON PLAN

Level: Grades 7 to 12
About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education,
MediaSmarts

Buy Nothing Day

Overview

In this lesson Buy Nothing Day is used as a jumping-off point to look at the role of consumerism in our lives and culture.
Students learn the definition of consumerism and consider its benefits and drawbacks; as well as where and how they
receive consumerist messages. Students list their own recent purchases and consider how many were needed as
opposed to wanted. They are then introduced to Buy Nothing Day and discuss its purpose and merits. Finally, students
imagine that Buy Nothing Day is a holiday on par with Christmas and plan either a pageant or television program to
celebrate the event.

Note: the Consumerism Diary activity is distributed to students the day before this class.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Define and debate the pros and cons of consumerism

• Survey consumerist messages in their lives
• Analyze their own purchases
• Plan a pageant or television program

Preparation and Materials

Read and photocopy the following handouts:

• Buy Nothing Day

• What I Buy
• Consumerism Diary

If you would like more background on Buy Nothing Day, read the backgrounder at http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/?
page_id=2.

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 Buy Nothing Day ● Lesson Plan ● Grades 7 – 12

Procedure

For all students:

The day before, distribute the handout Consumerism Diary and ask students to fill it out for this class.

What is consumerism?

Write the word consumerism on the board and ask students if they know or can guess what it means. If no-one is
familiar with it, break it into two parts for them: consumer, someone who purchases and uses a product or service, and
ism, an organized way of thinking (compare communism, feminism, pragmatism, etc.) Develop a definition of
consumerism with the class that is similar to this one: consumerism is the belief that it is good for society for people to
buy things – the more, the better. Ask students if they agree with this idea or not. What are some arguments in its
favour? (Example: people work to produce things; they need buyers to keep their jobs) What are some arguments
against it? (Example: people may waste their money buying things they don’t need.)

Ask students what things in our society encourage us to believe in consumerism. Try to encourage students to come up
with several examples (advertising, hearing or seeing what other people have bought, disposable products, etc.) Ask
students if there are any rituals or holidays that encourage consumerism; if no students suggest them, point out that
birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah and Easter all involve buying presents or treats. Ask students to consider their own
religious or cultural celebrations. Is there an emphasis on buying presents in any of them?

Consumerism Diary

Take up the Consumerism Diary handout from the previous day with students. What kinds of messages did they receive
that encouraged them to spend? Which places and media were most likely to contain consumerist messages? Were
there any places or media that had few or no consumerism messages? Discuss why some places and media are better
or worse venues for consumerism.

Distribute the What I Buy handout to students. Give them time to answer the questions and encourage them to reflect
on the differences between wants and needs.

What is Buy Nothing Day?

Ask students if any of them have heard of Buy Nothing Day. If any have, ask them what they know about it; if not, ask
what they think it might be based on the name. Distribute the handout Buy Nothing Day, have students read it and
answer the following questions (included on the handout):

• Do you think that we buy more things than we really need each day? Make a list of things which your family
would normally spend money on each day, i.e. food, gas, bus fare, clothing etc.
• Look at your spending habits over the course of a month and see where most of your money goes. Do you
attempt to budget your money?
• Why do we, as a culture, feel compelled to buy things we don't need for survival?
• Do you think commercials and advertisements make us feel we need things when we really don't?

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 Buy Nothing Day ● Lesson Plan ● Grades 7 – 12

• Why do you think our culture and media encourage us to buy things constantly? Is this a good, bad or neutral
thing? Why?

Take up the questions with the class.

Buy Nothing Day events

Ask students why Buy Nothing Day is held after American Thanksgiving and before Christmas. How does each of these
events involve consumerism?

Ask students what events they associate with Christmas or other winter holidays. (Examples could include school
Christmas assemblies, TV Christmas specials, Santa Claus parades, Christmas morning, etc.) Make a list of the ways
in which a Christmas assembly or TV Christmas special (Peanuts, Rudolf, etc.) celebrates the values associated with
Christmas and/or other winter holidays.

Break the class into groups. Ask each group to imagine that Buy Nothing Day is a holiday as important as Christmas.
Each group should plan out either a Buy Nothing Day assembly or a Buy Nothing Day TV special. In each case, how
would it be different from its Christmas equivalent? How would it celebrate the values associated with Buy Nothing
Day?

Have the groups each present and explain what they invented.

Additional component for secondary students:

While students are completing their What I Buy handouts, draw the following mind map on the board:

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 Buy Nothing Day ● Lesson Plan ● Grades 7 – 12

Discussion:

Back in the 1940s, psychologist Abraham Maslow developed various categories that he believed humans need to
achieve in order to reach their highest levels of consciousness and wisdom – a state of being that Maslow refers to as a
"self-actualizing person." At the lowest levels are things we physically need – food, water, air, warmth. We also need to
feel safe and secure, to belong and be loved, and to feel good about ourselves, in order to achieve our highest poten-
tial.

• What kinds of consumer goods would you consider to be essential in any of these categories?
• Look at your list of things you’ve bought. Where would they be?
• Are there any consumer goods that you would associate with Maslow’s highest level of actualization?

Extension activities for all students

Have your class, or your school, prepare an actual Buy Nothing Day assembly.

Have students script a Buy Nothing Day TV special.

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 Buy Nothing Day ● Handout

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day was first organized in Vancouver in 1992. Since 1997 it has been celebrated on the Friday after Ameri-
can Thanksgiving, which is traditionally the first day of the Christmas shopping season and the biggest shopping day of
the year in the U.S. Today Buy Nothing Day is celebrated in nearly twenty countries. (Outside of North America it hap-
pens on the following Saturday.)

The purpose of Buy Nothing Day is to make people think about the role of shopping, and more broadly consuming, in our
culture – to make us pay attention to what we buy and why. In Canada Buy Nothing Day is most promoted by the maga-
zine Adbusters, whose mission is to encourage people to question advertising messages. Celebrating Buy Nothing Day
may involve protests, demonstrations or other media events, but it can also be observed in a more personal and reflec-
tive way.

Answer the following questions on lined paper and be prepared to discuss them in class.

1) Do you think that we buy more things than we really need each day? Make a list of things which your family
would normally spend money on each day, i.e. food, gas, bus fare, clothing etc.

2) Why do we, as a culture, feel compelled to buy things we don't need for survival?

3) Do you think commercials and advertisements make us feel we need things when we really don't?

4) Why do you think our culture and media encourage us to buy things constantly? Is this a good, bad or neutral
thing? Why?

5) Do you think Buy Nothing Day is an event worth observing? Why or why not?

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 Buy Nothing Day ● Handout

Consumerism Diary

1) Between now and next class, write down everything you see and hear that is telling you to buy something. (It
doesn’t really matter what it is, just that you’re being encouraged to buy things.) Keep note of where you get
each message and the medium it was in (billboard, TV ad, etc.) Don’t just count obvious ads – include every
time you see a logo, a product placement, etc.

Time Where I was Medium

2) Look over your list and ask yourself the following questions.

• Were there any times of day when I wasn’t being told to buy something?
• Were there any places where I wasn’t being told to buy something?
• Were there any media that never told me to buy something?

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 Buy Nothing Day ● Handout

What I Buy

1) Think back over the last day, week and month and try to remember everything you’ve bought. (Include things
your parents or anyone else bought for you.) List as many things as you can below and under the heading
“Why did I buy it?” write either: I needed it, I wanted it or I don’t know/can’t remember. You can continue the
list on the other side if you need space!

Yesterday

What I bought Why did I buy it?

Last week

What I bought Why did I buy it?

Last month

What I bought Why did I buy it?

2) Look through your list. How many things did you buy because you needed them? For each one, ask yourself
if you really needed it and why. How many things did you buy because you wanted them? For each one, did
you still want it as much after you had it? If you hadn’t bought it, would you still want it now as much as you
did?

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