Remember You Must Die... and Dress in a Proper Way

AN EXPERIMENT BY GULEN SARIALABI AND AULONA ULQINAKU SHOWS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE AWARENESS OF ONE'S EVENTUAL DEATH AND THE CONSUMPTION OF VINTAGE APPAREL, MEDIATED BY THE IDEA OF TIMELESSNESS

There is a connection between the awareness of one’s eventual death (also known as the mortality salience) and the consumption of vintage products, Department of Marketing’s Zehra Gülen Sarial-Abi and Aulona Ulqinaku concluded thanks to an experiment designed to connect the dots between the two concepts and conducted at the Bocconi Experimental Laboratory for the Social Sciences (BELSS). It all boils down to the idea of timelessness – a concept that unites mortality salience and consumption of vintage goods.

“Marketing managers know that the catchy wording associated with the product largely affects our decision to buy”, said Zehra Gülen Sarial-Abi, assistant professor in the Department of Marketing. In vintage industry, managers could play a lot more with the idea of timelessness. “That is where our experiment steps in”, said research and teaching assistant Aulona Ulqinaku.

“It shows that timelessness is a common denominator for mortality and consumption of vintage products. In other words, when consumers are asked to think about their own death they tend to reflect on their past, present, and future. As a result, they are more likely to buy products that have a particularly strong past and present, and that carry with them a notion of permanence and timelessness. Vintage products are one example”, said Sarial-Abi.

In the experiment, one group of students is given a scenario in which they go to their parents’ house where suddenly a fire breaks out and everyone’s life is in danger. The control group instead goes to visit their parents and spends time with them in a very relaxed manner and without any fear of dying. Both groups are then given a few modern and vintage accessories, such as mirrors, sunglasses, and bags. Students in the first group find themselves more attractive when teamed up with vintage items. The opposite is observed for the students in the second group - they prefer modern items.

The knowledge from the experiment could potentially come in very handy in any industry selling timeless products. Managers in vintage industry should play more with the idea of timelessness given that it hits the right button in consumers. For instance, Ulquinaku says, “having a shop whose name prompts consumers to reflect on their mortality would be one way to incorporate timelessness. Location is also key. A vintage shop close to a nursing home where mortality is higher is likely to attract more customers. Another good strategy is to target consumers with higher mortality by marketing the product as a timeless good and not only as a collection item, a unique and fashionable good, and a means to convey a piece of history.”

The experiment also fills a wide gap in existing literature on timelessness, mortality, and consumption of vintage products. “Most articles either focus on vintage products and timelessness or on timelessness and mortality. Yet, literature seems to have left out the connection between mortality salience and consumption of vintage clothes and timelessness as a bridge between them”, explained Ulqinaku. The experiment however accomplishes this task.

by Bojana Murisic