Consuming to Cope: The Luxury of Consuming in the COVID-19 Pandemic

In her study “Consuming to Cope: The Luxury of Consuming in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” consumer researcher Yasmin Sekhon Dhillon examines how consumption patterns shifted in response to the pandemic. She frames consumption not only as the acquisition of goods and services but also as the intake of pandemic-related information. Dhillon identifies the “infodemic” — a flood of both accurate and misleading information — as a trigger for panic buying, a behavior driven by the desire to regain control amid uncertainty. Her analysis highlights consumption as a multifaceted phenomenon shaped by individual motivations and societal pressures. Panic buying, for instance, appears rational within the social context where widespread participation normalizes the behavior.

Drawing on in-depth interviews, Dhillon demonstrates how media coverage exacerbated anxiety and uncertainty, intensifying consumption as a coping strategy. She also situates consumption within the social sphere, emphasizing its role in self-care during isolation. For many, consumption became a luxury, a psychological tool to manage stress and create a sense of control during a period marked by illness and financial insecurity. Her study thus reveals consumption’s transformation from a simple economic act to a complex mechanism of psychological resilience in times of crisis.