Tide Pods are not made to be eaten by bored teenagers for clicks on YouTube GOOG, +1.23% But research suggests they may fulfill another more comforting purpose.
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping for toilet paper, bleach, cleaning products and disinfectant wipes. The media portrays impulse or “emotional” shoppers one way: bored men and women who run up credit card bills in designer stores and buy shoes online. But a recent study published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that people get a kick out spending money on the hoof, but they typically end up buying necessities like Tide PG, -3.09% and CLX, -0.08% instead of luxury products.
“Consumers who experience a loss of control are more likely to buy products that are more functional in nature, such as screwdrivers and dish detergent, because these are typically associated with problem solving, which may enhance people’s sense of control,” the authors write. (Another theory: It may be that they are familiar household brands and simply remind them of their childhood.) In one study, participants were asked to recall a situation in which they felt a high sense of control after shopping; in that scenario, they ended up buying more practical products at the supermarket, such as cooking ingredients and household cleaners. In a follow-up study involving sneakers, consumers were far more likely to favor function over form when they felt a loss of control.
Don’t miss: Teenagers are idiots for eating Tide Pods, but should their parents even buy them in the first place?
The study, aptly entitled “Control Deprivation Motivates Acquisition of Utilitarian Products,” found that shopping on even the most boring household items is enough to satisfy the cravings of compulsive shoppers. The authors suggest that impulsive shopping doesn’t need to have an adverse impact on a person’s finances, not if they’re buying Tide Pods Clorox wipes. “Given the pervasiveness and ease of using product acquisition as a means to cope with psychological threat, this research has important implications for theory and practice,” they found. Previous studies have identified “impulsivity” among people who want to escape unhappiness, low self-esteem and anxiety.
Also see: 10 psychological retail tricks that make you spend more money
But credit card debt among consumers is on the rise. “Impulsive buying is mostly designed to increase positive affect — something that, to me, functional things are less likely to cause,” says Heath Demaree, department representative for psychology at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. Almost half of Americans (49%) have said that their emotions have led them to purchase things that they can’t afford, citing stress, excitement and sadness, according to one survey by personal finance site Nerdwallet. And this can be a vicious cycle. A majority of those surveyed (87%) say they would be embarrassed to go into credit card debt.
And, as MarketWatch reported, the best way to avoid overspending is to make impulse buying as difficult as possible. That includes never saving your credit card information on Amazon.com AMZN, +2.65% or eBay EBAY, +0.48% where it’s easy to buy those shoes you will never wear or gadgets you will never use. Also, don’t create an account with a store when shopping online, and delete apps like Seamless (eat leftovers or cook at home instead) and Uber (leave home earlier and get a train or bus), unsubscribe from retailers’ email lists, and use cash and turn off push notifications on your phone offering deals. Above all, automate your savings rather than your spending.