Why people are boycotting the Black Friday sales with one powerful hashtag.

Although the majority of us in Australia have never actually experienced a Thanksgiving celebration firsthand, there is one element which has made it onto our shores.

And that’s the Black Friday sales.

The day marks the Friday that follows Thanksgiving, which always falls on the fourth Thursday of November. The day generally signals the beginning of sale season and it’s one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Think of it as the US equivalent of our Boxing Day sales.

However, thanks to the internet, Australians – and every other country with access to the internet – can now participate, with email sale alerts from our favourite stores flooding our inbox.

And while they’re oh-so-tempting, the anti-shopping movement #buynothingday, is asking consumers to resist in the name of sustainable shopping and ethical consumerism.

According to the ABC, here’s how much we waste in Australia… 

According to Bustle, the movement started in Canada 25 years ago as a reaction to violent Black Friday sales – think manic shoppers elbowing their fellow consumers for a half-priced TV. The idea started as a one-day shopping detox and it quickly gained traction worldwide.

This year, social media users are using the hashtag on Twitter and Instagram and sharing how and why they plan on avoiding the sales, both in-store and online.

Some cite anti-consumerist reasons and say they don’t want to add to landfill, while others would rather not spend their money on things they don’t need just to participate in the consumerist holiday.

Although in Australia, we’re physically removed from the shopping mall mania, the movement is still food for thought as we may or may not be perusing the sales.

Statistics from the ABC’s 2017 program, War on Waste, show Australia is the world’s second largest consumers of textiles, with the average Aussie buying around 27kgs of new clothing a year. In comparison, the global average is 13kgs annually.

While these statistics indicate that we might have a shopping problem, the problem also stems from the fact that the microfibres used in polyester, and clothing made from synthetic fabrics, don’t decay and either pollute our waterways or end up in landfill for years to come.

To bolster the movement, environmental NGO Greenpeace has teamed up with anti-waste organisations like Fashion Revolution, #BreakFreeFromPlastic and Fab City Global Initiative to launch the ‘Make SMTHNG’ campaign, which asks people to share, care and repair what they own to “give our beautiful planet a break,” says Greenpeace Make SMTHNG campaigner, Robin Perkins.

This is how people are responding to #buynothingday on Twitter:

I’m deleting every Black Friday email ad I get. #BuyNothingDay

— beth konomoto (@besudesu) November 22, 2018

More possessions don’t equal increase in happiness. Today, we’ll be enjoying strolls in the brisk air admiring our surroundings, chats with friends, self-care, losing ourselves in a good book, hugs – things that don’t cost a penny but mean the world ❤️ #BuyNothingDay

— pebble magazine (@PebbleMagazine) November 23, 2018

if you are getting something cheap, someone has probably paid for it somehow, somewhere along the line. everything has a real cost for people or the planet #buynothingday

— alan holly (@qlqn) November 23, 2018

Don’t forget to #BuyNothing today in protest at how consumerism is drowning us in plastic and isolating us from what matters. Why not read a #book instead of scrolling through the endless ‘offers’… #VoteWithYourMoney #BuyNothingDay #ReadABookInstead

— Emily Haworth-Booth (@emilyhb) November 23, 2018

#BuyNothingDay I’m not buying anything. It’s just hype to sell you stuff you don’t need. People will say it’s good for economic growth. It’s not good for planet earth. Time to change our priorities. #ExtinctionRebellion

— sylvia jackson (@seasylvia2005) November 23, 2018

Nice. I like this from @postcarbon #BuyNothingDay pic.twitter.com/uLHOs60UnM

— Rob Hopkins (@robintransition) November 22, 2018

This isn’t a judgement on people who choose to participate on Black Friday, but I will be joining in #buynothingday to promote healthy spending and to combat the social norm of materialism. https://t.co/negZez8j3M

— Keyndal Hudson (@keyndal) November 24, 2018

It’s Black Friday! Consume so much you can forget it’s the reason the planet is dying and your children will definitely experience war for resources as the sea renders great swathes of farmland barren with saline! Ooh look a thing you don’t need is cheap now!

— Andrew O’Neill ☿ (@destructo9000) November 23, 2018

#blackfriday is the epitome of the #consumerist society we currently live in. A sale item will never be a good deal if you don’t actually need it, so let’s #boycottblackfriday and buy less, choose well and make it last instead. #BuyNothingDay pic.twitter.com/nE4xCCBOKR

— Live Conscious (@LiveConscious_) November 23, 2018

Are you weary of your shopping habits during sale season? How do you try and curb your spending? Tell us in a comment below.