It’s A Recession But We Still Need To Have Fun

An article by Claire Jones-Hughes    Comments Off

The Spending Review this week was yet another gloomy outlook for the economy and household budgets. Public sector pay frozen, caps on welfare and slashes in arts and culture budgets. Increasing numbers of people’s livelihoods will be affected and many of us will be tightening our belts. Despite pressures on the economy, consumer behaviour over time has seen people spending hard earned disposable income on distractions.

When faced with an uncertain economic outlook, people have been known to switch their spending habits. Some research attempted to show ‘the lipstick effect‘ that while not parting with serious cash for high ticket items, sales of more affordable luxury items weathered a recession, even showed uplifts. However, the high street is suffering, as shoppers increasingly turn to internet shopping to snag bargains, especially across entertainment items.

The themes for our choice media potentially reflect the mood of society, as this infographic from Survey Compare demonstrates. They looked at what we were watching, listening to and reading during the last recession and there are some eerie similarities. Such as Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, the tale of greed and capitalism not triumphing over all and the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a metaphor for the system we still hold on to where the same individuals control a small percentage of the wealth.

Music continues embraces theme of music and hardship, Aloe Blacc’s funky but haunting melody, I Need Dollar reinforcing the view that it’s difficult to advance in this society without money. During the 1980′s we had music which reflected community despair through high levels of unemployment, such as The Special’s classic track Ghost Town. A song that could have been written for these times, with the number of empty shops on the high street in a worrying growing number of towns across the country. A point proved by Fermanagh in May this year, who were caught prettying up Enniskillen to hide the number of unused units in their town centre.

For some of us addicted to nostalgia, the album charts right now are a gift. Bands from our formative years have resurrected their careers, maybe they’ve fallen on hard times too or potentially because the climate is right for their musical offerings. Bruce Springsteen, Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age and Rod Stewart all in the Top 20. The first three most definitely synonymous with telling it like it is, Rod is probably thrown in there because he makes us feel ‘happy’.

For me, the fancy holidays are on hold, the house project is faltering but we still hunt out ways to spend time together as a family. My husband has been using paid surveys, cashback sites and voucher codes for a while now, meaning we can dine out without breaking the bank and buy the latest Disney Blu Ray without feeling frivolous. Martin Lewis has become a modern hero with his endless quest to raise awareness of how families can stretch their income and get value with everything they do.

Me? I’m a classic example of the lipstick effect. When I realise I can’t buy a new oven any time soon, I’m down MAC dropping a cheeky £11.00 on a new lipstick. At least my smile will be nothing but colourful and confident.

This post was inspired and brought to you in association with SurveyCompare and their infographic on recession spending.