Stop the Shop! 5 Easy Ways to Resist Single's Day Consumer Brainwashing

Did you know that "Double 11" was originally a day to celebrate being single? It originated at Nanjing University in 1993, but a popular event without the potential for some fat cats to earn money isn't a very fun event for fat cats. Thus, the event was commandeered by Alibaba (and others) via some canny advertising, bringing it to where it is today: the biggest sales event in the world.

In 2009, Taobao's first Double 11 sales surpassed RMB 50 million. In 2018, the sales through Alibaba alone (the world's largest e-commerce platform), hit a new record with sales of USD 30.8 billion in just 24 hours, in Chinese money that's RMB 217,535,197,094.60, to be precise.

In English, meanwhile, it can be roughly translated as "catastrophic destruction to the planet and the deadening of brain cells to the people who have been tricked into buying more things."

The negative impacts of this kind of mindless consumerism are multiple:

Psychological
The festival makes people anxious about missing out and then it makes people even more anxious when they see their next credit card bill following the festival AKA they experience buyer's remorse. People also lose perspective, wasting money on things they don't need. You can easily find stories about people buying a large amount of toilet paper online because it was on discount during 11.11 and saying that they still have some left from three years ago.

Waste
Unnecessary packaging uses up more of the planet's resources and turns to waste the moment the product is unwrapped.

Space
The things bought not only occupy the space of our homes, but also the space of our hearts. This invisible garbage brings us more burdens.

So, what now? 

During this year's Double 11, The Bulk House will hold a series of online and offline activities to help you reduce waste and fight against the consumerist brainwashing that occurs during the notorious shopping festival.

Join the Swap Meet
On Saturday, Nov 2, come along to The Bulk House's swap event, discussion, and film screening at Aio Space in 798 Art District. Entry is free!

Share your experience for a chance to win a useful zero-waste prize
What we want to hear from you: what is the most useless item you have regretted buying online in the past? For instance: an old telephone receiver that can be connected to a mobile phone, a heart-shaped cut out that can't hold eggs, a book you've never read and don't plan to read. 

To share your experience, send a message to our WeChat account: TheBulkHouse_China or in one of our zero waste group chats (add  WeChat ID: The_Bulk_House_1 to join). Alternatively, use @THE BULK HOUSE 零浪费无包装商店 via Weibo or Douban.

The person with the most useless item of them all will get the most useful zero waste gift: a large organic cotton mesh bag and a reusable, bamboo ear cleaner.

Support the Anti 11.11 campaign
If you want to really get the point across, use the picture below as your WeChat profile picture to inform people about the problems with this year's Double 11.

Collect evidence
If you do decide you need to buy something, please take pictures of the packaging when you receive them, and send it to us via WeChat, Douban, or Weibo (or messenger pigeon). Why? We're gathering evidence to help people understand how much waste is generated by the festival.

Share this article
The questions and methods in this article are worth thinking about before making a purchase. We can all be more rational consumers. Create more, consume less. Make life richer through being rather than owning more stuff.

This is an abridged and edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Bulk House official WeChat account. You can read it in full, and follow their bilingual account, here. The Bulk House is the first social enterprise in China committed to promoting the zero waste lifestyle.

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