The Super Bowl is obviously a big deal for business. Advertisers are paying an average of $3.5 million per 30-second commercial aired during the game, and they’re spending millions more to promote online contests and viral video campaigns accompanying the ads. It turns out that the Super Bowl is also a big event for businesses that aren’t advertising during the game but still figure out ways on the periphery of the game to reach potential customers.
The stumbling economic recovery has led many of us to rein in our expenses, even on necessities like diapers. But there are a few lucky sectors that benefit from a weak economy — things that let us escape, give us momentary pleasure or temporarily relieve our stress. They’re the small things, like donuts and yoga [...]
It seems like more than just coincidence that the birth rate and the overall number of births in the U.S. have sharply declined since the beginning of the recession.
Other than the fact that they start with the same four letters, sales of all three have been strongly and directly affected by the economic downturn.
How do you know the economy isn’t doing so hot? Your waitress is really hot, for one thing. Also, there’s a decline in the production of boxes meant to hold cereal, toothpaste, or beer. People are planting gardens to cut down on their food bills. Animal shelters are overwhelmed with pets dropped off by folks [...]
Biological clocks, steady employment and income, and couples’ relationships are ducks that don’t always line up in nice, neat rows. This is especially the case during the recession. The uncertainty of the economy has pushed condom sales up and birth rates down.
The recession has provided a moment to step back and contemplate, to come to a truer understanding of life lessons like that happiness is not derived from material things. The financial downturn has also passed along some slightly odd teachings, like that fewer people die at the workplace when there are fewer people actually at [...]
You might think that a financial crisis and a dreary, prolonged economic downturn might be a total bummer. People wouldn’t find much of anything funny, and they wouldn’t exactly be in the mood for other kinds of fun, either. Actually, it appears the opposite is true: In tough times, people seek out releases more than [...]
Tough times have a huge impact on what we buy, and what we don’t. In light of recent sales figures related to the brightly colored foam clogs known as Crocs and the mail-order DVD service known as Netflix, we’ve got two interesting recession case studies.
“Tightening Belts? She’s the Expert.” That’s the headline of a NY Times story on fashion innovator Diane von Furstenburg. She’s not remotely a tightwad with money. She designs tight, clingy clothes that demand tight belts. Get it? That’s recession humor for you.
With few exceptions, people are spending less nowadays. But there are exceptions to the spend-less rule. So what sorts of things are we actually spending more on of late?
