Remember the Consumer Appeal of Forgetting

Why would people purchase items only to promptly put the items away out of sight? Perhaps because the acquisition was made as an investment and the secure storage is for safekeeping. Maybe because the consumer has plans to use the purchased item only in the distant future. And researchers at HEC Montréal find still another reason: There are circumstances in which consumers will buy souvenirs of an experience and store the souvenirs out of sight in order to help forget about the experience.
     The circumstances are ones in which the experience is unpleasant, yet the consumers believe they are obliged to endure the experience. The researchers used as an example visits to the World Trade Center 9/11 memorials. Tracking a cadre of site visitors over a period of eight years, the researchers saw many instances in which souvenirs of the visit were sought, purchased, and then kept in the home without ever being looked at or shown to others. The purchasers spoke about wanting to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks, then using the act of storing away the souvenir as a way to compartmentalize the anger and grief aroused by the visit.
     Other consumer motivations for thanatourism—visiting places where death, tragedies, and atrocities occurred—include an intellectual curiosity about history and a wish to preserve lessons from the past. These visitors, too, might want to engage afterwards in the motivated forgetting which souvenir items provided by retailers could facilitate.
     More generally, remember the appeal to consumers which can come not only from remembering, but also from forgetting. When the shopping trip is intended to help put away unpleasant feelings arising prior to the visit, we could call it retail therapy. Researchers at University of Michigan say the mechanism of action is restoration of control. Sadness generally arises from perceptions that situations are controlling one’s life. Deciding to go shopping and subsequently doing it verifies to the person that they can assert themselves in the face of difficult situations. Making choices during the trip is another signal of being in control.
     Moreover, rubbing elbows with other shoppers meets the need not to be alone in the world. Solicitous store staff jack up our sense of importance. Spending money bestows mastery. In these cases of retail therapy, any souvenirs of the shopping trip are likely to achieve their intended purposes for forgetting by being displayed rather than being stored away.

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