Toilet Paper Crisis Worldwide Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, India Says No To The Problem!

With 73 confirmed cases and 3 deaths, Australia is currently one of the most affected countries amid the coronavirus outbreak. Although the authorities emphasized that they can provide enough food and necessities even in a worst-case scenario, shoppers tend to store up everything they need from canned foods, groceries, and even toilet paper. In fact, toilet paper has become the hottest item that was completely cleared in most supermarket shelves. Some stores even had to restrict the number of items each shopper could buy.

And it's not the sole problem of Australia but many other countries in the world regardless of development levels.

Herd Mentality - The Invisible Force Behind Irrational Trend

While the incredible demand for toilet paper hasn’t decelerated yet, Mr. Brendan Murphy, Australia’s chief medical officer stated that stockpiling all of the toilet paper is definitely not the sensible and rational thing to do at this time. According to consumer psychology Prof. Debra Grace of Griffith University, there was the alarmist news coverage and social media which fueled the runs on toilet paper. When some shoppers take a few packs of toilet papers, some others will easily notice it and suppose that they’re running out of supply. That’s how the herd mentality works!

"Obviously, 50 packs of toilet papers are much more noticeable than 50 cans of tuna, and no one wants to get stuck in the toilet without a square to spare!"

FOMO Syndrome Drives Us Crazy!

Meanwhile, the consumer behavior researcher Nitika Garg explained the phenomenon as the FOMO syndrome (Fear Of Missing Out). Although you have no idea why people are stockpiling something toilet paper, you need to get it as much as possible. In fact, Chinese people stock up toilet paper as it is the alternative for napkins, tissues and even makeshift masks.

People Need Comforts Even In The Scarcity

Consumer expert Rohan Miller supposed that the craze for toilet paper also shows our level of dependency on the modern lifestyle. We’ve been used to redundancy that we can choose and pick whatever we want. When scarcity and shortage happen, the sheep mentality drives us rushing to get any items that are running out, no matter what it is.

“I think people want to make sure they have some comforts in their lives if they’re going to be shacked up with their family for a long time,” he said. Apparently toilet paper is definitely not on the top of our survival list, however, people still need it as they cannot live without just a minimum standard.

While the whole world is fighting for toilet paper, what will Indians do?

Well, they have their own "wash not wipe" method to deal with this problem. Why to worry when we have our secret weapon jet spray for Indian toilet etiquette?

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