What started out as REI’s isolated campaign to get people to spend time with their families and outside instead of inside shopping on Black Friday has spread to a national level.
REI four years ago chose to close their doors on Black Friday, encouraging their employees to spend the day with family by paying them to #OptOutside.
Since 2015, 15 million people and more than 700 organizations have joined the #OptOutside movement, according to a news release from REI.
“The best data we have says that, in any given year, 150 million Americans don’t spend any time outside. That’s half the country. Day in, day out, we’re looking down instead of up, looking at our phones instead of the world around us,’” said REI CEO Jerry Stritzke. “We’re asking people this year to reevaluate that picture of themselves. To see technology as the starting point to a journey outside, not the destination. And to go explore the world with someone they love – on Black Friday and every day.”
REI is not the only one to push for the #OptOutside movement.
Virginia State Parks has also taken up the campaign and is hosting their annual photo contest with a grand prize of a $500 Virginia State Parks gift certificate.
From Nov. 22-25, when you #OptOutside, take pictures of the scenery, you and your friends and family having fun in Virginia State Parks.
You can submit up to five photos but they must be taken in one of the state’s 38 Virginia State Parks between those dates.
Find the rules of the contest here – please read them and see the complete list of prizes.
To read REI’s case for opting outside, click here.
