Sunny Nihilism and Young People's Consumption Habits

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Bravada Summary

• Gen Z and Millennial consumers are aware they are being priced out of traditional indicators of success and status (eg. houses) and are increasingly inclined to spend their money on alternative indicators of status, like luxury items.
• So-called “doom spending” entails 18-25s spending their money in more impulsive short-term ways, as they know saving for traditional long-term goals is increasingly futile.
• Short-term gratification is the focus of younger consumer’s spending.
• Luxury goods can be marketed as solid investments, unlike the unstable property market, luxury goods can be presented as enduring and a stable investment option.

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What is Sunny Nihilism?

• The term comes from the 2022 book, The Sunny Nihilist, by Australian writer, Wendy Syfret, which describes her embrace of a new, more optimistic nihilist philosophy.
• Nihilism, associated with 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, argues that the world and human life is devoid of meaning and purpose. Syfret’s alternative ‘sunny nihilism’ puts a more optimistic spin on this: it acknowledges that there is not intrinsic meaning in every aspect of life, but sees this as liberating.
• ‘Everything was futile. Nothing meant anything or mattered…It was the most comforting realisation of my life. I’d discovered a sunnier side of nihilism’, (Wendy Syfret, The Sunny Nihilist, 2022).
• Sunny Nihilism has found increasing support amongst Millennials and Gen Z, both of whom came of age in the aftermath of the financial crisis and geopolitical insecurity, experiencing housing crises and wage stagnation (source; source).
• Syfret describes Sunny Nihilism as ‘a balm for a group burning out over exceptionalism, economic downturns, performative excellence, housing crises and living your best life on Instagram’ (source).

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Sunny Nihilism and Consumption Habits: “Doom Spending”

• Sunny Nihilism entails a short-term “you only live once” attitude to spending encouraging people to spend money on things they like and that would make them happy in the shorter-term, rather than deferring and saving for long-term goals that seem increasingly unrealistic (source).
• This has resulted in the rise of “Doom spending”, resorting to spending money in the face of economic and political strife, and as a coping mechanism in times of uncertainty (source).
• 43% of millennials and 35% of Gen Z have reported “doom spending” (source).
• Gen Z are buying luxury goods up to 5 years earlier than millennials did and by 2030, Gen Z and Gen Alpha (born 2010-2023) are expected to account for 80% of luxury purchases (source).
• Doom spending has been enabled by an array of factors including the rise of payment credit services like Klarna, social media advertisements and an increase in younger people living at home for longer and therefore saving money that can be spent on luxury goods (source).
• Common products young people doom spend on include the Dyson Air Wrap, Stanley Cups, Skims Shapewear, Korean skincare, and luxury bags and trainers (source).

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Recommendations

• Young people are moving away from saving for traditional financial goals and thus the amount of disposable income they have is increasing.
  • Younger consumers are looking to spend money on luxury goods and alternative goals, rather than save for something that feels increasingly unattainable.
• Emphasis on how goods make the consumer feel - young people are turning to doom spending on luxury goods as alternative indicators of status.
  • Emphasising how luxury goods empower consumers speaks to this desire.
• Luxury goods can be marketed as solid investments, unlike the unstable property market, luxury goods can be presented as an enduring and stable investment option.
  • This is particularly important given the rise in second-hand sales of luxury goods amongst young people; UK children and teens spent over £635,000 on Depop and over £761,000 on Vinted in 2022 (source).
  • Luxury goods should be depicted as having stable value, both to the initial consumer, but also if they want to sell them on in the future.
• Luxury items and brands should draw on their heritage, to demonstrate that they themselves are also enduring in terms of their status and prestige in times of upheaval and uncertainty. In this sense, they provide consumers with something stable and relatively future-proofed.
• Highlight how your brand and product have a positive impact on an unstable and unpredictable world: highlighting sustainability and conscious production can make consumers feel like they are doing a small amount of good through their purchase.
• Implement buy-now-pay-later schemes, like Klarna, and cost-saving offers, like discounts and bundle deals, which speak to the need for immediate gratification.

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