How the coronavirus made us nostalgic & affected our consumption

Abstract

Consumption is usually seen as the way consumers purchase and consume in order to make sense of themselves, their surroundings and create meaning. However, the pandemic of Covid-19 has spread worldwide and previous research has just begun to address how this pandemic has affected us. Therefore, limited research exists about how consumers today consume in order to create meaning through consumption during a pandemic as Covid-19. Building on different literature about consumption and meaning creation through consumption, this research explores and illustrates how consumers consume during the Covid-19 pandemic to create meaning and make sense of the current situation. In addition, this article also reflects on branded products. This study indicates that consumers tend to create meaning and make sense of the pandemic by consuming in different ways, connected to; substitution, show-off, and memory consumption. These identified patterns of behavioural changes are suggesting that consumption during Covid-19 is appealing to and stimulated by (re-)enchanting responses and nostalgic stimulus.