Buy Nothing Day proposal body copy

This is the text of the final proposal to Adbusters for creating a cross-track poster, advertising Buy Nothing Day. The brief and research were included in my earlier post.

View the visual version of the proposal and crosstrack design!


Give Products a Voice!

Introduction
Hello, my name is… well, it’s not important. You see me every day, multiple times a day; in fact you probably see me every few minutes and don’t even notice me. I sit on shelves, hang on racks, and sometimes I just stand on the floor. People mindlessly grab me, own me, and after a short time discard me into a dumpster. Sad story, I know.

I am a Product, and my only hope is Buy Nothing Day. I dream of a day, when people will treat me with respect; when they will stop and think before taking me home. My friends at Adbusters are making this dream a reality through their Buy Nothing Day campaign. Now a team of passionate designers from Tops Creative is here to join them to create a cross-track poster, so the young Sydney residents will notice me as well.

History
This glorious path to liberation started in Vancouver in the early 1990s, when a brilliant designer decided to put a stop to mindless buying, and organized Buy Noting Day. To me, it’s better than a Birthday! For 24 hours people just don’t buy. They go about their lives enjoying various activities that don’t involve destruction of my kind.

Now Buy Nothing Day is celebrated in more than 65 countries. It makes my heart sing. Additionally, every year Buy Nothing Day falls on the day after Thanksgiving in North America, which is the busiest shopping day of the year due to approaching Holidays. This year Buy Nothing Day will be observed on November 28th in North America, and on November 29th internationally.

Audience and Target Market
You might be asking who will be looking at the cross-track. In case you didn’t know, cross-track, as the name implies, is a large poster, positioned across the train tracks. Times have changed, and now railroads penetrate our land far and wide. They allow people to travel to their work and entertainment destinations at almost any time of the day. In the morning a cheerful pack of students is traveling to their schools, and at night the party owls crowd the platforms, awaiting the late train.

What a perfect opportunity to tell them about me! The pals from Tops Creative will put their cross-tracks throughout the CBD, where hundreds of youngsters ages 18 to 25 will notice me, and my message for Buy Nothing Day.

Kalle Lasn from Adbusters defined the target audience of Buy Nothing Day as “the 20 percent who consume 80 percent of the goodies in the global marketplace.” This is the young and working population with large disposable incomes. I would place them at 25 to 35 years old, but my question is, why wait so long? I want the younger people to realize that as a Product, I am more than just another “thing” they consume. I require a choice, when deciding whether to take me off the shelf. Am I really necessary? How long will I be used for?

To back up our approach, the designers from Tops Creative and myself went out and asked 18 to 25 year olds what they think about the Buy Nothing Day idea. Many of the people surveyed acknowledged that there is a problem of overconsumption in our society. Yet, they didn’t feel that one day can change anything. “I would just buy stuff the next day,” said Jason McFall. And we say that if enough people participate, it will reach a critical mass that will change people’s shopping habits, and consequently improve my life!

Survey Quotes (in their own words)
Jack Ukleja: I would probably do it, but it doesn’t matter. I buy nothing on many days. What I want is to “bring down the Man.” We need re-education. People who need this the most are the least aware of these issues.

Stuart Cam: I like the overall idea. Less consumerism means lower interest rates (smile).

Competitors and Their Ads
Adbusters is not alone in their aim to change people’s behavior through a one-day event. White Ribbon Day is a campaign against violence towards women. It’s been very successful at attracting attention of many people. In 2006 for instance, White Ribbon Activists distributed 300,000 white ribbons.

People participate in White Ribbon Day by purchasing and wearing white ribbons, and people like buying stuff. On the contrary, Buy Nothing Day asks individuals to not shop, which could be difficult to promote. Additionally, White Ribbon Day is only three days before Buy Nothing Day, and they may attract the same audience.

In their 2007 advertising campaign, White Ribbon Day organization captured people’s attention by using images of famous people. However, they did have noticeable problems with text hierarchy within the ads, and a large amount of copy to read. The headings didn’t explain the point of White Ribbon Day well enough after seeing a dominant picture. Understanding the ads required excessive effort from the viewer.

We will learn from the successes and pitfalls of White Ribbon Day campaign to produce an effective cross-track poster, and give me and my fellow Products a voice!

Existing Advertising and Our Proposition
Buy Nothing Day’s prior advertising has employed humor, as well as a more serious tone, to portray the current state of the world. It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of Buy Nothing Day campaigns, since participation is on individual level, and no ribbons or tokens are sold to count the participants. It is also a global multi-national event, which makes reporting of data somewhat vague.

However, from our research young people do recognize the problems of consumerism in our Western society. They are ready to listen, and I am here to capture their minds with my charming character. Once my cute icon grabs youngster’s attention, the text of the ad will convey the importance of consuming less, and urge them to participate in Buy Nothing Day.

Conclusion
The approach of giving Products a voice is rather controversial, and it hasn’t been done before. The main idea behind the campaign is that Products are not just cold mindless things with barcodes on them. They cannot be used and thrown away without a thought, but need to be respected and valued.

The above proposal, as well as the proposed cross-track, is written from the perspective of a Product, which will help younger people associate with its character and realize the personality behind anything they buy.