‘Panic Buying’ And How It Went Viral

Over the last few months, you may have found yourself in the near-empty toilet paper isles’ of many supermarkets around Australia.

As the Coronavirus pandemic hit Australian towns and cities one by one, the number of people stockpiling groceries in fear of a lockdown surged dramatically resulting in animalistic behavior as customers fought over the toilet roll.

Viral content can be defined as any content that gains popularity through social sharing, therefore it is likely that we can link the media coverage on panic buying and the subsequent spike in conversations around products being sold out, to the increase in ‘stockpiling for the winter’.

Jonah Berger suggests that the success (or in this particular case, disaster) surrounding viral content, is due to six elements (STEPPS); social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical value, and stories.

1. Social Currency - The effect that people, products, ideas, news, or campaigns have on other people and whether or not it makes them look or feel good and at an advantage to their peers.

2. Triggers - Commonly indicate a word or phrase associated with a message - for example; the phrase panic buying has sent consumers into a frenzy of grocery shopping in anticipation that supermarkets would run out of essential products to have on hand during the lockdown.

3. Emotion - As a successful marketer, campaigns should avoid sad or negative words such as “cost” or “rush” and instead word such as “easy” or “new” that evoke emotions of awe and excitement. The media coverage around panic buying often uses negative words such as “rush” or “high demand” that has lead to more people panic buying and a greater number of empty shelves.

4. Public - The more public something is, the more likely it will become widespread and copied. As panic buying was reported and discussed more through the media, more people began to fear missing out on products and therefore joined the crowds and rush at the supermarket.

5. Practical Value - As well as being up to date with information, people also like to share their knowledge. This could be seen through discussions on Twitter about panic buying, greater media coverage and word of mouth amongst consumers.

6. Stories - Information is absorbed best when it’s incorporated into a story as they change how we think and feel. Although we can link the media to an increase in panic buying, there is also reason to believe that many of the stories shared were an attempt to discourage consumers from joining the stockpiling trend.

While STEPPS is a great theory to increase a product or situation's viral ability, how do you think it could have been used more efficiently by the media to sway consumers panic buying?

Feel free to leave any comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!