The irrational, enduring magic of retail shoe therapy. There is something about shoes and emotional lifting up! This witty poster in a Singapore mall captures the magical effect shoes can have on prospects, and hence their irresistible, even irrational appeal. This speaks to every fan of shoe retail therapy—“Shoes make me happy. I’m superficial. Whatever.”
Overcoming consumer anxiety is about emotional lifting up as much as it is about rational paring down. Hunker down, but with your high heels on?
Photo Credit: Shaziya Khan
Looking back on a year of AnxietyIndex posts, the thing that jumps out is that the best bits on the blog touched on the persistence of the human spirit. It’s really surprisingly boundless in scope—and anxious times are when we realize just how high and how deep it is.
expenditure over the last two quarters, contributing to continued sales growth in this rapidly developing market. According to the BL Research Bureau, the country’s biggest consumer packaged goods manufacturer, Hindustan Unilever, boosted its year-on-year advertising and promotional spend by as much as 31 percent in the 
six months to September, to 1,132 crore rupees ($241 million).
percent, to 156 crore rupees. All four companies saw sales rise substantially as well.
TV viewing at home is the experience of the recession. That’s because participation in alternatives has dropped: Family coffee dates—late-night trips to coffee shops with the whole family, a weekly/fortnightly tradition in Indian metros—are down, as are visits to restaurants. Shopping trips for fancy stuff have been reduced. So people are spending more time sitting down to watch TV or films at home, and weekend viewing has become more prevalent than normal.
Winter in a strange land is a great analogy for the tough, anxious times we’re contending with. In a foreign country, surrounded by unfamiliar choices, it’s natural to gravitate to brands that one feels close to and comfortable with.
