I’ve recently had a small banter among friends regarding Adbusters Buy Nothing initiative. The crux of the conversation was my belief that despite a noble effort, timing the event to Black Friday was a logistical mistake. I understand why they chose Black Friday from a messaging standpoint, but in terms of the American marketplace and the movement’s greater mission, I think it’s counterproductive.

Instead of getting a day of its own (like Earth Day), Buy Nothing will take a backseat to the inevitable media coverage of Black Friday, the ‘dismal retail season’ (isn’t it always a letdown?), the crowds, craziness, etc.

This decision was made for all the wrong reasons. Sure, the already-zealous and already-sold on the concept of Buy Nothing Day will think its a perfect ‘stick it to the Man’ move to do this on Black Friday. The remaining 99.9% of Americans will miss the message entirely. What purpose does that really serve?

We live in a mediascape that has with it some definitive realities. Those can be leveraged or ignored with significant strategic benefit or consequence.

If AdBusters is looking to reaffirm what its small core audience already believes, then this tactic will accomplish that goal. If they’re serious about spreading their message and making a difference in the world, they have missed the mark by picking the wrong date to build awareness.

A more productive approach might be to promote a ‘Buy Nothing Birthday’ where each individual could adopt the concept for their birthday (“Friends, don’t send gifts, just spend time with me”). In this way the concept becomes personalized, inherently viral and happens every day of every year. A simple Facebook Buy Nothing Birthday app would be a great way to share the concept, reinforce the values of friendship over ownership and to allow people to spread the idea through their networks of friends. It would also have a more optimistic tone rather than the conspiratorial, anti-establishment, punk-rock edginess Buy Nothing Day has now. Again, the latter tone may validate the passions of a core small group, but if the aim is truly to effect change and not just stroke a fringe constituency’s collective sense of self then the punk edge will quickly lose its usefulness.

Lastly, being digital, Buy Nothing Birthdays would cost AdBusters next to nothing to produce, would consume minimal resources, and probably would reach more people in a year than a one-off stunt poorly timed to be eclipsed by a national event ever will.

It also allows for personalization of the concept. The punkers can be punky the soccer moms be soccer momish and everyone can embrace an idea which on the whole is a good one.

Until you get to the argument about our 10+% unemployment rate.