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As fall turns to winter across this nation, many millions will converge on centers of worship large and small,
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to celebrate and give thanks to a familiar God.
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He tells us to buy now and pay later. He tempts us with promises of endless credit.
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As he leads us down the path to eternal debt.
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'Tis the season to be shopping....
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There's just one more thing you have to do before the end of the year and that is... Shop yourself silly!
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People are saying "Look, we can't just let the terrorists win...
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...and just stay home."
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Millions of Americans are hitting the stores...
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... Tradition on this Black Friday is... Get out and shop... till you drop.
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We used to be a nation of producers,
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and are now a nation of consumers.
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American stores, could already fit every man, woman and child in north America,
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South America and Europe, inside them, at one time.
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We love toys and Elmo... - We love Elmo!
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Our gadgets, appliances, tools... - I've a gift for you guys! - flat panel TV's...
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we have to have that or it won't be a happy holiday!
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For the first time, since the great depression, our household personal savings rate is below zero
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and 60% of us, are in long-term debt on our credit cards.
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...This is free financing for all your purchases...
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We now spend under one hour a week in religious or spiritual time,
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and over five hours a week shopping!
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Over 15 million Americans, may be clinically addicted to it.
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"...people saw that there is very limited supply and they begin behaving like animals.
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I just like to say as I always say,
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sometimes I enjoy my diamond ring much more than I enjoy my husband!
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If you've feed something that She doesn't like, she says "Oh mommy I don't like that!
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She actually goes potty... "
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You know people will run over a pregnant woman to get to the Item they want, there is no surprise there.
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Three quarters of us, view Christmas with more dread than anticipation.
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Yet we'll spend half a trillion dollars on Christmas this year and create five million tons of extra waste.
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Some say it's all gotten out of control,
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this Church of Stop Shopping is planning what it calls "a Shopocalypse tour".
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Drive the demons out of those cash registers...
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Reverend Billy, what is the mission? What is you're trying to tell people?
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We're trying to get people to slow down their consumption, Amen!
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We're addicted, conflicted! We're hypnotized! consumerized!
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...consumers are expecting to spend around 40 to 57 billion dollars this holiday season,
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this weekend alone, is gonna be the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
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Stop shopping! Save us from our credit cards! You don't have to BUY a gift, to GIVE a gift!
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Amen!
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Stop shopping children, we can go the other way!
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Folks, only 30 days of shopping to Christmas.
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Stop it! Slow down your consumption!
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It's time to stop! Stop shopping...
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Stop, stop shopping, Halleluja, sing Halleluja... we will never shop again, forever and for...
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Halleluja!
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We won't shop again!
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We're gonna put those Nikes down and we'll stop shopping, shopping
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we're gonna put that Starbucks down and we'll stop shopping, shopping
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we're gonna put that Wal-Mart down and we will start to stop, Halleluja! Halleluja!
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Let me tell you something, Who's the man who cast the pall on the big bad shopping mall?
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He will stop you, he will shock you, he will test you, he will bless you.
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Children give up all your sin, 'cause he's our reverend.
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Reverend Billy!
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Help us! Bless us, Give us the power to... STOP SHOPPING!
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Amen!
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Yeah!
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We're here today... 28 days before Christmas
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That's behind so many layers of billboards and supermodels looking down at us... in their Christmas lingerie.
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Billboards covered with fake dickensian gingerbread lattes.
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They're beating each other up at the cash register in the supermalls.
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I think I know what they're doing.
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I have some compassion there, some part of me... feels pretty violent right now about Christmas.
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Oh, we're gonna go out across... this shopping addicted country. Please remember us.
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We might be chased across that Wal-Mart parking lot.
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We don't know what kind of jail in might be in.
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Macy's and Bloomindale's have jails now.
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We're gonna out there. We're gonna keep those biodiesel busses going on...
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and make sense
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of this journey into utter absurdity.
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I know that all we're asking people to do, is to slow down their shopping.
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What am I saying? Stop shopping!
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happy holiday, happy holiday
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while the merry bells keep ringing, may your every wish come true.
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Happy holiday, happy holiday
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may the..... keep ringing happy holidays to you
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it's not a traditional anymore, like where
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you can just be around your family and buy them small things and they appreciate it.
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And now if you get people small things they don't appreciate it.
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I would not want to celebrate Christmas if there were no gifts.
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gotta have the Christmas spirit, with some brand new rims.
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Material stuff ain't important, I just wanna, cruise around flashing my rims
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so you can see me down the street... damn! look what he got for Christmas!
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This year for Christmas I want The Gucci dog tag with the free cuflinks....and Prada shoes.
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Whatever costs a lot, people want. People don't what something that's cheap.
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...And then you just throw them away, buy new ones.
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It's not a bad holiday, it's just more if... you go broke. And the news lets you know that you're gonna go broke.
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I've had my life threatened, I've had people follow me out to the parking lot and try to beat me up
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as if I have all the systems in my car. I've had people curse me out, I've had people actually spit at me,
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I had a woman who's about 60 years old curse me put and spit on me
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for not having a PS3 for her 6-years old grandson...
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That's just me, too - we've had a lot worse in some of the other stores.
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What do we have here? Laser tag... drum set!
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It's for the kids, for the kids. I don't care if I go broke, it's for my kids.
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I was living in Times Square and I couldn't figure out where I was.
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My neighborhood had turned into a mall.
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Small shops were getting closed down, and here's Mickey Mouse, here's the Lion King,
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here's all these Disney industries... Nobody really goes here anymore EXCEPT consumers.
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It's lost.
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Than I asked myself "Who's shouting here, who's really getting out there and raising their voice a bit,
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...Repent..... - It was the sidewalk preachers!
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... For the kingdom of heaven is at hand...
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I bind the spirit right now with the name of Jesus' Father, I loose the kingdom of Jesus Christ upon them.
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Ye shall be roasting on your roaster, while you're toasting on your toaster,
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...as you're coasting on your coaster.
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I went and bought little pine pulpit. I was catering tables at the time, so I had a tuxedo.
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And I just started to bellow: "People.... tourists... listen to me!
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Mickey Mouse is the Antichrist!
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We have to start our own church that isn't about the worship of the retail moment.
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Goofy's come to steal the dreams and imagination of you children! Hallelujah!
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You're under arrest. Put your hands behind your back.
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Stop shopping! Stop shopping! (Crowd shouting: Let him go!)
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If we were able to change Christmas ...we would change the whole year.
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You know, the 'Stop Shopping' Church doesn't necessarily... we don't have the answer.
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And we're trying to slow down our own shopping. I think we have .... the question...
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..the question.
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Toasters, remember? Toaster! Now, see someone!
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Well, Billy and I fell in love before I ever saw Reverend Billy and really knew what he was up to.
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We were married by the time I started directing the show.
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I was intrigued from the beginning by the choir. I watched the choir grow from, you know,
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six people and a musician to 35 singers and a 7 piece band.
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We say 'Stop shopping' just to get your attention. Certainly nobody can stop shopping.
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But you can have a conscience about your shopping.
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Think about how it affects other people,
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just explore the options, that's all we ask.
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We've got scientists... preachers' kids, high-school teachers, recovering executives,
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and we're all joined together in the 'Church of Stop Shopping gospel choir.'
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I've no idea how Billy does it really. I even don't know how many times he's been arrested.
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I couldn't even tell you.
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Sometimes I worry... Billy is going to jail for a while. you know, it doesn't slow him down at all.
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The Shopocalypse... it comes in the form of the Stonehenge of logos!
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And we pray today for protection and safety as we get into our two bio-diesel busses
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and if the fabulous unknown protects us and keeps us we'll be in the Promised Land of customers!
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While many people hit the malls to do a little Christmas shopping today
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one man is on a mission to stop what he calls 'The Shopop.... Shopo...
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Shopocalypse. It's like Apocalypse and shopping together.
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The church of Stop Shopping! They're on a month-long, cross-country tour
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to convince people to reject overconsumption and change their shopping ways.
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This year for Christmas I want a disposable cell phone.
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XBox 360, Nintento 'Revolution.' -Nintendo DS for Christmas. All the kids are talking about it...
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This year I want so much! - I want an iPod! - a Batman mobile.. - An army knife and an army gun!
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What do you want for Christmas this year? - A outdoor dog and ferries...
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and Rudolph the rednosed Reindeer to come to my house!
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How many presents do you think is 'A lot of presents'? - 100!
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Oh, 100, that is a lot of presents.
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When you can afford it, it's hard to draw a line sometimes between
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being moderate and giving them all they need and want versus spoiling them.
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All over here are The toys. And over here are my doll-house stuff. And my dream things are over here....
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She has seen commercials on the Saturday morning shows, and anytime she sees something
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she yells out: "Mommy, come see this! I want this!"
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It's a crocodile and I named him Chum-chump. My favorite toy is Chum-chump!
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Do you think you have too many toys? -Yeeees! - Well how did that happen?
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Because you and mommy gave them to me, and Christmas....
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This... has nothing in it. Daddy, what's this?
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The intriguing thing really is that most of the 'togetherness' is now created around the gift-giving.
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Christmas almost died out in America after the Revolution. Then it was realized
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this was a wonderful commercial opportunity because it combines this commercialism
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with a true feeling of love and affection.
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Our parents go to such immense trouble for making seem to children that nobody shopped for Christmas.
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The presents were all brought by Santa Claus who made them each by hand
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and disguise the fact that the gifts they bought for their kids have in fact come out of a shop
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and come out of a season of anxiety and sometimes - tragic desperation.
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From the very beginning all of us as babies are conditioned in this society
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to see Christmas in a certain way. And so they associate the material goods with the symbol of love,
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which is exactly what the marketers want them to do.
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In some countries it's illegal to advertise to children under 12.
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But in America we spend over 15 billion dollars marketing to them.
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Studies reveal that until the age of 8 most children don't know the difference between advertising and entertainment.
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American children now absorb over 40 hours of media exposure a week.
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While meaningful conversations with their parents will total less than .. 40 minutes.
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Despite suffering a shotgun blast through his chest Michael Penkala stayed focused
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on being one of the first US buyers of the new Playstation 3 from Sony.
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Penkala was on the floor coughing out blood and telling the workers to take the wallet out of his pocket
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to purchase the PS3.
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It's like drinking Dickens.
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I hear you brother.
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Had to plaaaay the XBox 360, WOW, it's craaaazy, it's just like Real Life!
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This is my secret....
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Gonna go tackle the choir?.... Billy, that's what I want you to say.
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I want you to really practice the thing we talked about yesterday: generosity,
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opening your eyes.... I want you to go in the other direction about connecting to people.
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Don't go to the performance! Let the performance emerge, OK, from a real situation.
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Hallelujah. Exactly!
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So you ask 'What exactly is the Shopocalypse'?
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It's that discounted luxury item, that we are all buying as we are all dying.
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We're proceeding into the shopping season under an enormous misunderstanding:
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We think we are consumers at Christmas time. NO! We are Being Consumed at Christmas time!
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Over there, that new XBox 360, Oh My God, NO, NO, I gotta have it, gotta have it,
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IT FEELS LIKE REAL LIFE!
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Somebody give me a Changelujah here.
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Changelujah! Can you do that brother?
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May this young man..... may the ability to distinguish between real life and simulated life
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come into his body yeeeeah!
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I can live in the mall. I dreamed about living in the mall once.
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It was a cool dream! It was like my parents owned the mall and I could get whatever I wanted.
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That just made me want to smile.
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I mean, I'm a pretty smart girl, I can tell when they're trying to get us buy stuff,
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but then I wanna buy their stuff, so...you know...
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doesn't really make a difference if it's advertised or not,
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I still wanna buy it because everybody's buying it. If everybody buys it then I'm gonna buy it.
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I just feel like sometimes you HAVE to buy your clothes at certain place, or else
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you won't be considered... normal. People will laugh at you, rumors will spread.
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And that is a bad thing. Very bad thing.
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We lost our whole box of Lola's Christmas outfits, everything's just gone, we can't find it.
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Noooo! - Her whole Christmas wardrobe is gone!
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Oh look! Here's a Louis Vuitton bag with the cherries.
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I think she needs that, don't you?
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Good bye, thanks a lot!
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This is Lola's Christmas tree, she has her own ornaments; this is Lola's closet,
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Her wardrobe is kept and organised, her dresses and fancier things here,
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sweaters, slacks and coats all across the bottom here.
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Hi sweetepie, you wanna put this on?
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That's so pretty! Let me see you. That's pretty.
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Cheers!
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Compulsive buying is something that overtakes someone.
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They need skills, tools and strategies to stop it; it's not enough to say:
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'I'm not gonna do it anymore!', because one has to respect all of the functions that it serves.
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I have a little reminder card that I give everybody I work with; it's got questions:
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Why am I here? Do I need this? How will I pay? What if I wait? And Where will I put it?
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Holidays do trigger some people. Buying is equated with love,
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and happiness is just the next purchase away.
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Try to talk to me about your shopping sin.
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There's a store that I love; and I faithfully go everyday at lunch.
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Every day?? - Every day, and they always have a bargain.
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And the last time I was there they had this great blue dress, and I really wanted it!
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And I knew it would fit, I mean, I knew until I took it to the dressing room
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and got undressed and I ... got it up to my hips and I could not get that dress on.
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So I pushed the dress on; couldn't get it over my shoulders, so I thought:
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'No, this dress is gonna fit!' - and I put it on, and I wanted this dress SO BAD!
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And I pulled it at my.... Got It! Oh my.... I could not get it off.
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I tried every way: back down, back up, I could not call those ladies because
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I go there every day! I had to destroy it and I had little key scissors on my keychain
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and I cut myself out of it, cause I didn't want to embarrass myself and not be able
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to go back to that store, so.. I can still go to the store.
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But I probably shouldn't have done that.
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Sister, the fabulous Creator that gave you your wonderful body...
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is saying something to you at that moment. Your body destroyed that dress and
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it did the right thing. Maybe your needs will be what you refer to
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when you make the decision to shop.
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Go now and sin no more. - I just felt bad for ruining the dress, not for shopping!
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Yeah, it's lovely, it's got pictures of God holding semis in the air...
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hear my testimonial.... I just want to let you know that ..
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Travel John came in handy in my car last evening.
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It's just.... can't we shop? - We're not shopping, we're just.... uh..
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My fear is that we'll be perceived as weirdos or not taken seriously, but..
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there are people here that totally left their lives behind to try to do something.
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Before the Stop Shopping choir I always thought protesting was marching on Washington,
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shouting with signs, but it's a new serious political work in creative, fun ways.
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It's incredible, like nothing I expected.
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The chipmunk was wearing a little robe made of leaves; inside there was a crucifix and some holy wafers,
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that have been missing from the church for a week.
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I'm a sinner, yes I am, and I own a lot.
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Okey-dokey, I think it's a sale.... no, that's a waste, I can't pay 6 bucks on this crap...
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Thank you very much! I did not buy one thing! It was hard...
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What would Jesus buy?
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XBox 360!
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Jesus would probably buy a Playstation 3.
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Ooooh, this year he'd probably get a Wii, or a 360 if they didn't have any Wiis available.
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Well I don't think we'd see Jesus at Wal-Mart buying a new pair of shoes,
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although it is cold down here and he might get socks.
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I don't know... I don't think he'd have to buy anything, well I guess he would.
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He would buy because, you know, you need bread, he'd buy the necessities.
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I think he was very conservative. Not a Republican!
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He might with love and maybe a bit of sternness in his voice, say:
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"Look, you're reading the Scriptures, but you're missing half the message!
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Why don't you learn about what to do about the poor?"
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Why do the CEOs get 500% more than the one at the bottom?
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God is wonderful, he answers all prayers. 'Cause for a long time I prayed:
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'Please get me off the streets of Outskid Row.'
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And here I am with my own room, fully decorated for Christmas, and I'm just really, really thankful!
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"Buy the baby gift. Do we shop, do we die? Oh no that kind of gift!
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What would Jesus buy, whaaat would Jesus buuuuuy."
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Sam Ruben live from Hollywood. This is WGM Morning news at 8.
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He's the only reverend with a court order barring him from entering any Starbucks in California.
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He says Mickey Mouse is his own personal Antichrist.
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Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping gospel choir are here this morning, Morning brother,
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how are you? - Hallelujah! - Nice to see you.
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So, you have a specific message, uh? - Oh yes, we're trying to...
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get people to think about what to do in this Christmas time.
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You wanna express love for the person you're giving the gift to with just another product from the supermall?
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Ask the question: 'What would Jesus buy!' - Right, I don't do it!
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Exorcise your credit card... that's all right, that's OK.
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Hey, what if you sing a song here! I gotta get to the mall!
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Get out of here! That guy's got a shopping problem. Follow him! Hallelujah!
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Blessed are the Mickey D' free for they wil SAVE OUR CITY!
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Blessed are those who forgo the Gap, for they will save our sins!
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We will remoooove Starbucks! and Disney!
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Many shoppers have gone into the Magnificent mile and have never been seen again.
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Starbucks with a billionaire at the top and impoverished people at the bottom!
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Don't spend four dollars on a latte in this café.
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We didn't mean to create banana republic! It wasn't our idea!
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The Dysney company still presides over sweatshop facilities around the world.
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Suddenly, we see where it came from! We back away!
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We won't go back! We won't we won't, no more, no more! Hallelujah!
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Wake up America! Are you people, or are you sheeple, led to the Shopocalypse?
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I always wanted to have the high fashion shoes, and now I'm in debt. I'm 21 years old.
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Credit cards give you a false sense of economic security. That 'Buy now and pay us later!'
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- at high interest rates, that's what people forget about.
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You turn 18 and you get your first credit card and it's like this amazing thing...
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I'm just walking in, show the people this piece of plastic and I get what I want!
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It would typically take me until the end of fall next year to pay off Christmas bills.
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Christmas is when I go all out, you know, maybe I didn't always have nice stuff when I was growing up
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and I want them to have everything, I want them to grow up having name brand stuff
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and all the cool toys; and when their friends come over they can say they have it,
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My husband is ... like ... "No! We have a budget and we stick to a budget" and he doesn't know I have three or four.
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I don't believe in credit cards or anything like that. We do have a credit card
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and if we use it we just pay it off every month.
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Here it is again: Christmas and I'm just not getting cards and...
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I think he'll just have a fit when he finds out, so...
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This is a card that I just received in the mail and it will be maxed it out by the end of the day.
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When I was a girl there was no plastic. When I was a girl your credit was really
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just a matter of a handshake; that's how my dad would hit the deal in my home town.
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You know that I'm gonna pay the store when I get paid, right? That was the credit line.
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American consumer credit debt has surpassed 2.4 trillion dollars, and 60% of us are carrying
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13 000 dollars in credit card debt this Christmas.
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At over 1 mln. a year bankruptcies continue to rise especially after the holidays.
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Yet, Americans will still get over 4 billion new credit card offers
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and charge over 100 billion dollars on Christmas gifts this year.
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We're seeing gift cards that function like credit cards; marketing to 12 - 13-year olds,
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we're seeing the marketing of consumerism to children as young as 3-years old!
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Friend! Friend! Lock that door! There are people here with... too much credit!
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I want everybody here to reach down in your wallet and I want you to bring out your credit card
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and I want you to wave it in the air, magnetic stripe facing Reverend Billy.
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We're gonna exorcise the credit!
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One time Jesus got violent was the money changers;
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when the Visas, the Citybanks came into the temple - that's when he got upset
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because of the outrageous users' rates that were being charged.
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Two weeks until Christmas that year. Wrapped up your shopping yet? Have you wrapped up
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your presents yet? Matell is feeling swell, saying barbie doll sales are up this year. Matter of fact it`s the top toy for girls...
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How are you guys? I love the hair!
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I'm Reverend Billy and this is the stop hopping gospel choir.
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All right, give me a cue here.
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I love this! OK, I feel you man!, I really do!
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Look at this! - Can we sing you a song? - Absolutely!
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Serious! The little boy loved the brat line.
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He had a good sense of humor about it. Maybe that's the governor's. A certain awareness. He invited us inside!
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Oh yeah! Time to end the workday.
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Probably one of the happiest Christmasses that I can recall we sold some pop bottles
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and some rags, my wife and I. We used to buy rags, haha.
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So we sold pot models and rags. We were able to buy some paraffin wax and we made candles.
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And we gave everybody! Everybody had candles; actually when we left that little appartment
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it still had candle wax all down the stove!
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We didn't know we were poor, you know, because everybody was in the same boat.
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And my dad made Christmas so special because he always made sure there was oranges and apples
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along with maybe a pair of boots or something that we had to have.
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I was thinking that Santa was gonna come down the chimney and I was waiting for
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everything to be all right the next day...I just felt very happy, I had candy and
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a couple of basic things I had... and I was happy.
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Amen!
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Dear Reverend, today's my first visit to your website; I find that what you're accomplishing
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ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! Amen!
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This is Elisa and Grace and Uncle Billy...
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So these are Christmas cards... Right, we were supposed to be singing carols around the piano.
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Bill's probably about 7 here? And here's he's about 11. This is South Dakota.
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We were really made to have a creative life. So Bill had piano and cello,
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and he was actually very gifted musically.
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You know, it's one thing to be performing in the family in the living room,
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but it's another thing to say 'This is my life!'
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We'd go out there in the world with my talent, my heart,
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and make this be how people know me, what I do.
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I would say the performance element came to be totally in service of the message.
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And the message became the reason for Reverend Billy's being.
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We have to take Starbucks into our bodies!
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It has come into our neighborhoods like space aliens!
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Would you please shut up!
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What is it that you feel when the corporation is your best friend?
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When the corporation, the multinational corporation is your lover?
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Is Starbucks my lover? It's not my lover!
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Changelujah children! I call on the God that is NOT a product! Come into this evil Wal-Mart!
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Exorcise this cash register! Don't touch our children!
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Can I talk to you for a moment? - No! We're in church here! We're worshiping here!
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I just wanna ask the fabulous Unknown ...... for forgiveness on this leg of the trip!
-
We froze our vegetable last night because we ran out of heating in this bus!
-
I feel like Jimmy Swagger in this church when he got caught at 4 in the morning with a prostitute.
-
He was in his church, his wife was in the front row and he was:
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"Dear, dear, I'm so sorry dear, I HAVE SINNED!
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Forgive me!
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We're back to fossil fuel. I'm so sorry! Forgive me!"
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Hallelujah brother!
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Amen! Amen! Amen!
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Give me your camera.
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Talk to him.... Liza!
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Stand on your knees..... we love you, we're with you!
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Don't move anybody!
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Everybody who's not injured, get off the bus right now! The paramedics are here....
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Where are you hurting, buddy?
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Fractured ribs I believe....
-
Flight is coming in here? - Yeah.
-
We were rammed by an 18-wheeler headed for Minneapolis. I don't know about the tour...
-
Everybody's hugging everybody... it's ...we're getting MedEvacs...
-
A semidriver apparently misjudged the speed of those buses and plowed right into the back
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of that second bus.
-
They're apparently members of a performance activist group, in fact,
-
and they're on a nation-wide mission with an intriguing message for shoppers
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this holiday season.
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We're on a mission to save Christmas from overconsumption; we want people to discover
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another way to give gifts to each other this year.
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And that right there was Reverend Billy. Although the group is based in comedy,
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their message is serious. Members say they're fighting against false idols
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of the Christmas spirit.
-
Yes, we're the people that were touring in the bus together; we'd like to visit our friends...
-
in the IC department somewhere.
-
Oh, we can order medical university license plates. Don't delay, order yours today!
-
Violin section in the background...
-
They're went 13 people into the hospital, here, but they're starting to come around.
-
Hey champ!
-
So we're gonna try and charter a bus in the morning, I don't know really how that's gonna go.
-
But, now everyone wants to just get back on the road.
-
Of course, my mom was like 'You need to stop that tour, you're coming right home!'
-
My momma said the same thing!
-
I told her we don't give up!
-
We will mooooove, yes we will! You know we're gonna GET BACK, right back, oooon that roooad..
-
and we'll spreeeeead, the gospel, of Stop shoppiiiing, and we won't give up, we won't give up; Push on! Push On!
-
We will revive our church and continue, go on and on and we'll find, somehooooooow, somwheeeeere
-
and we'll get on a brand new bus tomorrow early in the morning, and we won't give up we won't give up. Push on! Push On! PUSH ON!
-
Are you the Reverend Billy? - Aaaaah, no. - We thought that's pretty funny,
-
because our reverend is Reverend Billy. - Oh, really? - That's what he said. Reverend Billy.
-
All right, your reverend is from what church? - The church of Stop Shopping.
-
Interesting... - I've never heard of it!
-
So, you're trying to establish a church here? Oh, you're just travelling.... - Oh, crusade! Way to go!
-
You guys are doing a wonderful work! You are doing a mission!
-
We here in Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, a missionary's job is to spread the Word,
-
not just keep it to yourself but spread it throughout the land.
-
That's the good thing. And it takes some guts to do that!
-
Have you experienced the kind of electric charge as when you're going to a Big Box,
-
you're going to a chain store, and you just get a little bit out of the proper prescribed behavior?
-
Just a little bit outside of that, maybe raising an original issue; and maybe that issue goes to a table next to you...
-
And it's just your first amendment, that's all.
-
And maybe somebody finds you obnoxious? Nothing new for me baby!
-
There are many places in America where there are no sidewalks. What does this say about us?
-
It says that we have to either be in our car, or in our house, or in the mall!
-
There are only commercial spaces in almost all of America, or private spaces.
-
You're either trespassing, or you're buying.
-
It's as if we live under a kind of enchantment.
-
In a 100 years from now we won't be doing the things we're doing.
-
We would've figured out way more interesting things to do than go shopping as our main activity.
-
Unfortunately I also know that we don't have 100 years to make that transition.
-
We gotta make it more quickly than it would happen naturally or else we're gonna derail
-
the Earth's physical system, especially its climate.
-
This consumer frenzy makes everything into a commodity - everything has become a thing.
-
Even Christmas, even Christ. The shopping mall is a symbol of everything that has gone wrong with Christmas,
-
This isn't what Jesus had in mind for us.
-
We would like to invite you to come to the Mall of America.
-
We have 100 robes, we have this wonderful idea of sort of a anarchic mormontanemental choir.
-
The once sleepy town of Bloomington, Minnesota. A monument for the ages has risen,
-
with their own police force, an amusement park, a wedding chapel,
-
and the first ever college campus built inside of a mall.
-
Over 4 miles of storefront, with more than 42 million visitors per year!
-
That's more visits than to the Capitol, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon and Disneyland combined.
-
Behold! The Mall of America!
-
We're gonna spread the good gospel to Mall of America!
-
Walk away from the product!
-
Drive the money changers out of the temple!
-
We're all ending up inside these supermalls! These products are taking over our lives!
-
Shall I just get up there....
-
Stop shopping!
-
Hallelujah! Changelujah! Let's change!
-
We're here in the heart of Mall of America (Calling all security...)
-
to tell you to join us with many other Americans in saving Christmas
-
FROM THE SHOPOCALYPSE!
-
You've gotta stop protesting and you're gonna have to leave, OK?
-
You've gotta walk out of the property, you're not allowed to be on the property.
-
We're just everywhere, you never known when we're gonna show up.
-
That's fine but you can't be here today. - You've gotta stop shopping!
-
Your consumption is getting out of control! Hallelujah, that wasn't nice!
-
Try it now, it's never too late.
-
I'm sorry I yelled at you! I get angry at police pretty easily! We'll see each other again somewhere.
-
It's Texas. Jay from the Dallas Morning News, Amen.
-
Savitri, would you say hello to Mr. Jay? - Hi there, how are you?
-
We try to... First of all, we know how hard it is to shop in America without compromising...
-
these values. You know, I think you can go in any store and be hard-pressed to find a product
-
that's made in America. But first of all, we look for things that are made in America,
-
then we try to shop in places where the money we spend will come back into the local communities,
-
into local economies.
-
Gordon's Barber shop.
-
You don't need a haircut!
-
Hello! We thought the whole store was empty! - Well I'm here, I didn't want to get in your way...
-
I'm Bill, how are you? What's your name? - Mike. - This is my wife Savitri there.
-
We just came up from Demoin this morning and we're freezing, cause I just don't have...
-
I need a good sweater. Can I try it? Then if I don't like it check the quality. - That's all right. This one's wool.
-
Is this... made in America, or is this too much to ask? - Let me see. Are you gonna take it back off?
-
- No, I would never take it off.
-
Made in USA. Yeeeeeeah! Hallelujah!
-
The gentleman next door said there were Wal-Marts on 20 miles in either direction.
-
Has that affected your store at all? - Oh yeah. Wal-Mart is killing small town America. Seriously, it is.
-
Saturday nights everybody came to town, and we'd be busy, be here and be busy
-
until 11 - 12 o'clock at night! We have two sons and I have not encouraged either one of them
-
to come back to the store. I mean, there's no future... and that's sad.
-
When you think of a business that's been in our community for over 125 years, and
-
it'll be gone.
-
It all goes back to the mindset of the people and it goes back to the Wal-Mart mentality.
-
We gotta buy this as cheap as we can buy it, we don't care where it's made,
-
we don't care they're not paying the employees anything. As long as I bought that pair of socks
-
for 50 cents instead of 2 dollars - I'm happy.
-
Lots of folks think it's inevitable - they're gonna disappear into the big stores.
-
We don't have to feel that way. So let's talk to each other,
-
put our money back in our own community.
-
As long as I get a good deal it doesn't matter where it's made in.
-
It's the price. I think everybody just looks for the price.
-
I doesn't really matter to me where things are made, because I just get them,
-
I don't really wonder where they're made, because that just takes ....is too mind-boggling for me.
-
They go to other countries to make cheaper stuff, and then we get jobs in Wal-Marts, K Marts
-
and Targets, and we get paid less because of course cashiers don't make a lot of money;
-
stockers don't make a lot of money. But you know, what are we gonna do?
-
There's nothing we can do!
-
I can't like boycott everything, cause I won't buy anything...So...
-
I really don't know what to tell you, I'm sorry.
-
Well, people have a choice: Are they gonna choose low prices or high wages?
-
And that's not a choice that I can make for them.
-
Jesus said: Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick.
-
There are more people being fed by Wal-Mart than any government in the world.
-
Globalization doesn't mean that America is losing. It means that America is shifting its locations,
-
It means maybe that.... the workers are not making as much in salary, but....
-
And they're losing insurance, and they're losing retirement benefits,
-
which always says that.... that nothing is guaranteed anymore.
-
Been at Wal Mart for 5 years. Started as plain clerk, now I got promoted to invoice clerk.
-
Well, I put in about 6 days a week, over 70, no, 96 hours, I say a week.
-
The benefits are good, we have....
-
Wait a bit, you got me....
-
As far as benefits, as far as the wages that are coming here... you got me here.
-
If companies are allowed to pit the American worker against desperately poor people in the developing world
-
who don't have the right to organize, who don't have any form of democracy at all...
-
You can't compete against slave labor, it's impossible.
-
Well, how do workers live in Bangladesh that make all Wal-Mart shirts?
-
They get paid 13 to 17 cents an hour. Well those workers live in utter misery.
-
Those wages translate into not being able to brush your teeth.
-
They get up in the morning and brush their teeth with their finger, using ashes from the fire,
-
because they can't afford a toothbrush.
-
And there is a certain decency to American people.
-
When they stand face to face with a 13-year old kid, and that kid tells the American people
-
that she works 7 days a week, and every other day they work until 3 AM,
-
they keep them for an 19-and-a-half hour shift...
-
She got 7 cents an hour sewing clothing for Wall Mart.
-
And while we were walking away from her, she just blurted out:
-
'I feel like I'm dying! I'm so sick and exhausted!'
-
13 years old and she tells us she feels like she's dying. Yet she works for the largest
-
retail corporation on the face of the Earth, that had 11 bln. dollars of profits.
-
Wal-Mart led the way and now everyone wants to milk the system for as much as possible.
-
The biggest fear to the corporations is that young people wake up and start asking
-
not even negative questions. Just like: 'Wait a second! Let's slow down a bit!
-
Who made this product?'
-
I had no idea.... Really... That would definitely cause me not to buy from that place anymore.
-
Yeah, but this thing is everything is made there. Your shirt was made there.
-
Like probably a kid made that.
-
This is Philippines, the one is Vietnam... We could call someone.
-
Hi, can we have some information on where your clothes are made?
-
- Our clothes? - Yeah, where they're made? - Where we're located?
-
No, where your clothes are made.
-
I asked my manager and she told me we don't know. - Is there a law that you should know?
-
You could double-check online.
-
I never even thought about this before. I had no idea.
-
We can only ask questions.
-
So these are all laboured , so you can check China Labor Watch, Corpwatch and Labor.net.
-
So we should go to this 'Responsible Shopper'.org.
-
Ok, so they have specials about workers in Bangladesh.
-
Unpaid retirements.... and in some cases even endured beatings by their supervisors? Workers operating the hot glue machines had burn scars and fresh burns on their hands.
-
We're going to Wal-Mart Headquarters, because Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world.
-
The Walton family are 5 of the top 10 richest people in America, but they pay their workers
-
very very little. They've gotten that wealthy on the backs of a lot of people.
-
Lots of places, lots of towns have been devastated by them...
-
They really destroy the American dream.
-
We'll park near a graveyard and we'll have a funeral for small-town America.
-
In that adjoining cemetery are the buried hopes of the American dream.
-
There is a real vision after Supermalls -
-
a complex, fun, big American dream in the future, that is not about betrayal.
-
It's not being cheated. The teenagers making these goods on the other side of the world,
-
they won't have that kind of life anymore! We will know better than to cooperate in that slavery.
-
Be able to give a better life for our children.
-
Can you see that future? We're gonna exorcise Wal-Marts.
-
It's waking up now....
-
I think it's Resurrection time. Let's go to that sign now. Let's take the evil into our bodies now.
-
Let the anger come out. We started this country with anger. There is a time for anger.
-
There is a time to exorcise, with millions of Americans in our bodies.
-
We have millions of Americans in us!
-
We'll give our own gifts this Christmas!
-
Well, that was miserable.
-
Millions of Americans in our bodies....
-
I thought that we'll start levitating and fly over Wal-Mart and something might happen.
-
All I did was dive into the shrub.
-
I hope nobody here hears us. Those that hear us, they SO don't want to hear us!
-
You look pretty tired. - I feel I need for what we do to have some impact on someone soon.
-
The weather's still ... the weather outside is frightening. It's gonna be a long ride.
-
With convincing song and dance, wailing about the dreaded sins of retail chains
-
and corporate conglomerates, Bill and his red-robed choir of followers faces questions of sincerity.
-
She does tell them to stop everyone from shopping but she looks to the choir
-
and says she was happy he was giving them work.
-
They're probably all on welfare, she said, so it gives them something to do.
-
That's incredible!
-
I don't think people are really stopping their shopping very much.
-
It's not surprising at all that we got hit by some truck in a hurry to deliver its goods.
-
The malls are packed, the cars are packed, they look at us like we're crazy.
-
'Stop shopping?' - Yeah, yeah, stop shopping!
-
I think that the culture of shopping is so complete now that even just a single interruption
-
is a kind of success. You really do have to start somewhere.
-
We live right now in a dark time. Everybody is inside an automobile on the way to a television.
-
We've got an emergency here! Oh, we can't stop shopping in Dallas!
-
And there's a thing out there they call Christmas. Why are they throwing so many obstacles
-
between us and the beginning of their hopes? Hundreds of thousands of grinning celebrities
-
on labels, saying: 'No, this is a gift, no, this is a reference to a gift, a simulation, a painting of a gift...'
-
Why the obstacle course? I'm gonna go to Wal-Mart and sing! I'm gonna go to Target and preach!
-
I'm gonna go to those obstacles and I'm gonna say: "WHY CAN'T I GIVE? WHY CAN'T YOU GIVE?'
-
Le'ts give a gift! A real gift!
-
We survive the fire, the Shopocalypse....
-
Together we will penetrate the parking lot of the Big Box. We'll go through the electric doors,
-
past the cash registers, down the aisles to the devil itself!
-
Oh, Victoria, we know your secret! We don't need a million catalogs to have our sexual fantasies!
-
Turn the camera off! - Can we take your picture too? Nightmare!!!!
-
We aren't allowed anywhere near this mall! Yeah! They're probably having
-
the federal police already waiting.
-
The guy in the white suit in the white bus. How do I talk to him?
-
There are 5000 Reverend Billies with white suits. Sometimes a Reverend Jimmy, Reverend Jimmybob,
-
Reverend Jimmybob Billy....
-
We will take the real life that we have within us, that originallity that we've got
-
that has got nothing to do with products! Amen, hallelujah!......
-
Shop consciously this year! We have three days to go! Stop your shopping officer!
-
We will sit down in the seats before these yellow feet of the most famous corporate logo in the world,
-
the one that has chosen to steal our children's imaginations for 80 years...
-
The Devil, MICKEY MOUSE!
-
You can hear the sounds of this season, right, the Jingle bells, the Christmas carols...
-
the horns honking as drivers curse at each other... Today promises to be
-
the mother of all gridlock alert days.
-
We're so close here, it's the last push. How you keep it together at the end, when you're exhausted,
-
is really the test.
-
And if they continue to fornicate, after they know the difference, then they might cause
-
a 9,2 earthquake to destroy Los Angeles. So a lot of us have to remain virgins
-
until the day that we die.
-
Let's not give gifts based on cruelty this year!
-
I just heard stop shopping.. Isn't it 'Stop shopping' he sings?
-
I wish I should've heard this before.
-
Give a gift - out of love this season!
-
I think it's excellent to bring this message, why people are so much into consumerism,
-
and we should really realize what is the true meaning of Christmas.
-
It's more about love for each other, than to be so much into consumerism, buying, buying....
-
What would Jesus buy?
-
I don't think he'd buy anything at a Staples!
-
We ask the fabulous Creator, the Mother Father God that's not a product!
-
Come into the soul of this blessed baby, give this child, give its parents the loving power
-
to not be lost to the mindlessness of consumerism!
-
Roxanne Elisabeth, let's all sing!
-
Aaaamen! Bless the child... Aaaaamen! Bless the child....Aaaaamen, amen, amen!
-
You guys gotta leave. The manager... gotta leave. - Right, we're leaving
-
We've just baptized a child, did you see?
-
That felt so good, wow. Did you see that? Wow. That makes it all worth it.
-
They can take me to jail now.
-
America is a fascinating country in many ways. Of course, Los Angeles is the dream capital
-
of the world, this is what we sell here. Disneyland is a perfect example of that.
-
Disney is entirely fantasy, it is a simulation. Walt Disney built that place
-
on the perfect little American town where he grew up.
-
Everything is shiny, everything is beautiful. You'll notice at Disneyland there's no time -
-
You can either live in the past, you can live in the future, you can never live in the present.
-
So Disneyland is like following the yellow brick road and end up finding the Wizard of Oz
-
and suddenly turns out that there's nothing behind the curtain,
-
except the frenzy that you came from in the first place.
-
We've lost the real dream and we've replaced it with this artificial dream.
-
In Disney it's funny that it has this image of a magic kingdom and children's dreams and all the rest,
-
but even they are completely ruthless.
-
That's made in China, Disneypress. And I don't think many people in the US may associate
-
this Disney book with crushed and broken fingers, lacerated hands, broken bones,
-
even deaths of young women in China.
-
And the workers of the factory that made this in Sri Lanka tried to organize a union,
-
and they took the union leader out of the factory and broke his kneecaps.
-
We don't question things. We don't think about the meaning of life enough.
-
Christmas should be a time when we take that step back and we think about
-
what really matters, what's really worth it.
-
A whole closet full of stuff that we never use is a testament to our dissatisfaction.
-
So this endless cycle of not being satisfied, more consumption - less satisfaction.
-
How about less consumption and more satisfaction?
-
Christmas means the pathetic hope that the coming of one who would just set all things straight,
-
turn things upside down. Christmas is meant to shake the world up,
-
not just be an occasion for more shopping.
-
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring,
-
not even a mouse. The children were nestled all snug in their beds while ads for new doodads
-
played out in their heads. When the children awoke they spoke all-too honest:
-
'Did we get what we wanted? What Santa Claus promised?'
-
We gotta do this. We gotta head over there, to Promised Land.
-
First church of Brooklyn? We're gospel choir from the First church of Brooklyn.
-
Pasadena. The first church of Pasadena, and it's Unitarian.
-
Make sure your wrist watches are synchronized.
-
Now arriving from a trip around Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom.
-
Each one of you here today has forever become a part
-
of the magic known throughout the world as Disneyland.
-
May you forever treasure this very special Christmas day at the happiest place on Earth!
-
In just 2 minutes Disneyland will present a Christmas fantasy parade!
-
This magical place where dreams come true!
-
Hello everyone, yooohooo! Mickey wants to know you're rooting for him! Go Mickey go!
-
Go Mickey go!
-
He did it! He made it to the top!
-
This is amazing! Christmas time in Disneyland! We got what Santa gave us
-
and it was what we wanted! We're so lucky! Christmas time on Main street in Disneyland!
-
But wait a minute! This amazing Main street, it's so prosperous, so beautiful, so healthy!
-
The main streets across America they're not this prosperous, they're not this amazing!
-
They're empty, they're shuttered, they're outsourced!
-
Everything here, Main Street USA, is Made in China! - Sir... - Something's wrong! - Leave now!
-
Let's take our magic back to America! Let's go shop at home! We can change!
-
Sir, you need to relax... sir... - Let's slow down our consumption!
-
Hallelujah! Stop shopping here! We have the magic! The corporations stole Christmas!
-
We can take it back! - Will you stop or you'll be arrested! - Let's give a real gift!
-
You're going to jail tonight. I challenge you. Stop Shopping here.
-
You're going to jail. Merry Christmas! Stop....
-
Leave Disneyland! Stop....ah!
-
And your preacher back there, he's gonna go to jail. Everybody here will go to jail
-
if you don't stop what you're doing.
-
What if we did save Christmas from the Shopocalypse?
-
A billion people pause at the cash register: 'Wait a minute, should I buy this thing?
-
What is this thing? What do I intend to do with that thing?'
-
What if they have.... Ohhhh, then we'll have the opportunity to give the greatest gift of all!
-
We can give the gift of Christmas itself!
-
Let's pray to the Fabulous Unknown!
-
Give us the power to recognize the greatest gift of all, when we have the chance to give it.
-
Cause there've been so many "Tickle-me Elmos" and cabbage-face dolls...
-
I don't know how to recognize Christmas with all these Christmas decorations!
-
What would Christmas itself look like, how would you wrap it?
-
Thank you so much for letting us come together
-
to look at someone else that you can help, that you can reach out to -
-
that's what this is all about.
-
What if we could change Christmas? What if the America we all saw together this December could change,
-
even a little at Christmas time?
-
Then we could change the whole year! Spend half as much as you spent last year for Christmas.
-
Let's buy half as much and give twice as much!
-
Give my child my time; my loved one my love - a real gift!
-
Amen! Amen! Amen! Hallelujah!
-
What was Christmas before the shopping started?
-
Christmas is the birth of the child we believe will grow up to teach us peace.
-
You don't have to be a Christian to hope that's true. Amen? - Amen.
-
Somebody give me a Merry Christmas here. - Merry Christmas! Hallelujah!