By Amara Grautski

When stores open their doors at 5 a.m. Friday, some social activists will close their wallets.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the start of the holiday shopping season and the beginning of a period of mass consumption. However, a counter-movement has been gaining popularity to offset the annual event: “Buy Nothing Day.” Concerned consumers from all around the world annually take a stand by protesting or by simply choosing to purchase nothing at all.

This idea was inspired by Ted Dave, an artist from Vancouver, Canada whose art mocks the brand-name marketing machines. With the help of the Adbusters Media Foundation to promote the cause, Buy Nothing Day is about to celebrate its 15th anniversary and has engaged more than 50 countries.

“Twenty percent of the world’s richest nations are consuming 80 percent of the resources,” said Paul Cooper, the global campaign manager.

“The main goal is to raise awareness to promote a life-changing trend,” he said.

The latest Buy Nothing Day commercial, which can be viewed on YouTube or the Adbusters website, portrays North America as a large pig, hogging the world, while the voiceover relays the harsh reality: “The average North American consumes five times more than a Mexican person, 10 times more than a Chinese person and 30 times more than a person from India.”

So far, all main television networks have shied away from running this short yet controversial commercial.

“Usually what happens is we contact these people and we offer to pay them for the ad space but they refuse to give us the airtime,” Cooper said.

CNN is the only network to ever broadcast an Adbusters commercial. Even MTV, known for having liberal advertising, so far has been unresponsive.

“We actually talked to MTV this morning. We’re still trying to make a last minute deal,” Cooper said.

Without televised support, the movement has had to find more inventive ways of making a statement, like public credit card cut-ups or zombie walks reminiscent of the movie “Dawn of the Dead.”

“People dress up as zombies and go wandering around the malls with blank comatose expressions,” Cooper said, adding that it’s a way of mocking the mindless spending habits of holiday shoppers.

At the forefront of this movement is the younger generation. Shannon Foreman, a recent graduate of Smith College, was drawn to Buy Nothing Day because of its attention to environmentalism. Buy Nothing Day started as a personal interest and has grown into a passion.

As a member of the Boston-based nonprofit organization Conscious Consumers, Foreman said she hopes more college students will adopt the cause.

“I think it would be great for college campuses to get involved,” she said. “It already seems that college campuses are really an ideal place for this kind of activism.”

Foreman is trying to spread awareness by creating her own zombie walk via the Adbusters website. Through “jammergroups,” an online message board, visitors can network with fellow activists to create their own events within their city. So far, no one from Boston has gotten back to her.

Although well known in Canada, full awareness of Buy Nothing Day hasn’t hit Boston yet. Despite a Facebook group that boasts more than 77,000 members, sales representatives from local stores like Gap, Best Buy, Urban Outfitters and RadioShack had never heard of the movement.

“No, I don’t pay attention to that sort of thing,” said RadioShack sales associate Philip Akin.

However, he said he hopes that the movement doesn’t catch on.

“For those of us who work on commission, our pay would take a large cut,” he said.

Kerry Lewis, Best Buy operations manager, doesn’t think the trend will have a large impact in Boston.

“I don’t think that Buy Nothing Day has affected anything. Last year we opened at 6 a.m. and this year it’s 5 [a.m.],” she said.

Best Buy is opening earlier and staying open later to keep up with the Black Friday trend, which she thinks escalates each year. Lewis said that about half of the entire Best Buy staff will work the day in shifts, which will come to an end at 11 p.m – an 18-hour day

Colin Hopkins, a freshman business major, agrees that the holiday shopping won’t be affected and that this kind of obsession with buying can be found year-round.

“It’s not going to change no matter what,” he said. “When there are insane toys out for kids, it doesn’t even matter if it’s the day after Thanksgiving. People still act that way even if they just want to buy an Xbox 360 when it first comes out.”

Some Northeastern students like sophomore business major, Jason Berman, don’t think Buy Nothing Day will change anything.

“Americans are consumers. We’ll always be consumers,” he said.