The strange Gen Z trend for coping with election loss

Young voters show off their latest purchases made because they are ‘sad about election result’

Gen Z are turning to retail therapy to cope with Donald Trump’s landslide election win.
Mr Trump swept to victory in the presidential election on November 5, triggering a wave of grief among Democrats who have turned to so-called “doom spending”.
Sephora has emerged as one of the winners of the “doom spending” trend, where young voters assuage their election upset by spending big on self-care items and sharing their hauls online.
Celeste Acevedo described her Sephora spending spree “as an anxiety response”.
She shared a video listing her purchases describing the items as “things that I bought in the Sephora sale to cope with the election.”
“Hope people are doing well and coping well,” she added. She appeared to spend over $261 on cosmetics based on the products shown in the post.
A separate TikTok post featuring a woman buying Christmas decorations and scented candles is captioned: “When you’re sad about the election so he takes you to your fave (sic) store and tells you to get whatever you want.”
A survey of 1,001 US adults carried out towards the end of October, found that 27 per cent of people reported engaging in recent doom spending to alleviate their election anxiety.
Doom spending describes the habit of spending money to soothe anxiety about broader issues such as politics or the economy.
It is most common among younger generations, with 37 per cent of Gen Z and 39 per cent of millennials going on shopping sprees to cope with recent stress, according to the poll by Intuit Credit Karma.
In another TikTok video, captioned: “post-election retail therapy”, a young woman films herself visiting a book shop “to cope with election results” and purchasing two titles: Hillary Clinton’s latest book and another called “Men Who Hate Women”.
“Can you tell by my purchase choices how my mental health is doing,” she says.
Another user named Emelina shows off a stationery haul, telling viewers: “Here’s everything I bought today to keep me from having a mental breakdown after the election result.”
In a separate post captioned “Post election depression called for retail therapy and spending it on winter clothes and holiday decor”, another woman holds aloft five shopping bags-worth of goods.
Courtney Alev, a consumer financial advocate at Credit Karma, said: “Politics can often add to people’s stress levels.
“Time and time again, we see people spending money to cope with their emotions and relieve stress, and while it might result in short-term relief, it can have long-term negative implications on their finances.
“Young consumers, who spend much of their time online and on social media are especially susceptible to the impact that doom scrolling can have on their wallets.”