New Year'S Eve Consumption Plans: Consumers’ Consumption Priorities on the Eve of 2000

Abstract

The celebrations that occurred on New Year's Eve 1999 provided an opportunity to collect data to generate insight into the ways in which consumers behave during symbolic occasions, particularly in relation to the consumption rituals that are planned and enacted. The sample for this study comprised 126 consumers, most of whom were Australian. Respondents provided accounts of their plans for New Year's Eve, including their thoughts and feelings relating to these plans. The processes of inclusion and exclusion were found to take on heightened importance for the occasion, manifesting in the greater physical demarcation experienced between in-groups and out-groups. This trend, however, was counteracted by the lowering of cognitive boundaries between groups as evidenced by the tendency for many respondents to cast their thoughts to the under-privileged. The findings have implications for the ways in which marketers promote their products at special times, and provide insights relevant to not-for-profit organisations.