Zapping Culture

SHOOT: Something fascinating and disturbingly true I read recently...

The spending of leisure time today can be characterised as a so-called ‘zapping culture’.
Consumers want to be entertained and expect to get a lot of different experiences and, most
of all, sensation45. Because the best is not good enough, people step into a kind of rat race to
find the perfect peak experience. If an experience is not good enough, we simply zap to
another one, because there is enough to choose from. People quickly shift their attention
once they feel an activity or product is a waste of their valuable time. The drive for
experience and the urge to consume more (convenience) goods in less time drags the
consumer into endless zapping. Suppliers have to survive in this ‘experience’ or
‘entertainment economy’. In marketing, therefore, the focus is shifted from the sole products
to ‘vague associations’ such as sphere, style and ‘getting a kick out of it’.