Cultural Moments of Consumption
Project Context
We are looking to encourage conscious consumption during
cultural moments with peer-to-peer collaboration and sustainable
practices to reduce waste in the UK.
Festive moments are important than ever for people. The number
of people experiencing loneliness has increased over the course
of the pandemic. In 2020 spring, 5% of people in the UK
experienced loneliness and this proportion has increased to 7.2%
a t e n d o f 2 0 2 0 a n d e a r l y 2 0 2 1 (O f f i c e f o r N a t i o n a l S t a t i s t i c s,
2 0 2 1) .
Social gatherings during festive moments bring people a sense of
togetherness and meaningful shared memories. As much as those
moments bring shared joy, it also encourages over-consumption
which causes a significant amount of waste. Our goal of the
project is to make the process of preparation during cultural
moments more sustainable while bringing people joy in the shared
experience.
Research Background
Research Approach
Secondary research to e xplore the c once pt o f collab orat ive
consumption and categ ories that c aus e o ver-cons umpt ion in
the UK to find our focus
Buil t a systems map to ident ify pr obl e ms
Interviewed 13 peopl e from vario us back g round s in t he U K t o
understand the significa nce o f c ult ural mome nt s f or t he m and
their motivation towards c ons cio us c ons umpt ion d uri ng t his
time
Student Service Design Challenge
01 | Research Proposal
Secondary Research
To understand what types of waste are generated, we looked at
some of the UK’s largest cultural events such as Christmas and
Halloween.
⅔ of people in the UK were predicted to get together with their
f a m i l y d u r i n g C h r i s t m a s i n 2 0 2 1 (p w c, 2 0 2 1) . A n d m a n y o f t h e m
wanted to make the experience extra special for 2021. Therefore,
there was a slight increase in average spending to £428 in 2021
v s £ 3 8 4 i n 2 0 2 0 (p w c, 2 0 2 1) .
In parallel, a large amount of waste is produced. To illustrate this:
On average, 4.2 million Christmas dinners were wasted in the
UK equivalent to 263,000 turkeys or 7.5 million mince pies
(G W P, 2 0 2 1 )
300,000 tonnes of cardboard packaging is used in UK
households during the festive season equivalent to wrapping
t h e L o n d o n E y e 5 0 , 0 0 0 t i m e s (U K G O V , 2 0 2 1)
7 million Halloween costumes were thrown away in 2016 - 4 in
1 0 p e o p l e o n l y w o r n t h e m o n c e (E n v i r o t e c, 2 0 1 7)
4.2
million
dinners
300,000
tonnes!

Conversations around the R e lat io ns hip bet we e n C ons umpt ion & t he Fe s t ive Expe ri e nce
Does the decor, gifts, and food
make the experience richer?
"Christmas is probably my favourite time of
year and it's a time for family first and
foremost. Decorations set the mood, and get
you feeling all Christmassy. Gifting shows you
care about the other person and if the gifts are
thoughtful then all the better. And the food is
one of the best bits, it’s the one time a year to
be overindulgent and it’s delicious."
Copywriter, 27
"Cultural events for me are family, friends,
engagement, happiness, community and
culture. Preparing food with the family is very
special for me. And decorating the house is
what helps to know that the day is special, or
something is going on."
Student in London
All the users we interviewed said products like
gifts, decorations, and food made their shared
e x p e r i e n c e w i t h p e o p l e r i c h e r.
The common spirit
A hol iday from "everyday l ife "
Time with famil y & friends
Smal l el ements that add up
Student Service Design Challenge
02 | Research Proposal
What people had to say
Sensitive to over-consumption
during celebrations?
"Conscious about it but it’s always a
compromise not as eco-friendly as I wish..."
Lecturer
10 of 13 users we interviewed are conscious of
over-consumption or waste when preparing for
cultural events, but there is a need for added
m o t i v a t i o n.
What could be different?
"When you are buying things last minute, you
tend to just go for something regardless of
whether it’s eco-friendly because it’s more
convenient and you are doing something last
minute. As a consumer, If we wanna be more
eco-friendly, we def have to plan and try a little
bit harder to opt for more eco-friendly options."
Student in London
Some users mentioned that if it was planned
w e l l i n a d v a n c e, t h e y w o u l d c o n s i d e r m o r e
sustainable ways of celebration.
The festive mood with the l ight s & de cor
Interested in a more sustainable way of
celebrations if that's with the same
festive experience & simple?
All said YES
"Elements like gifting, decorating, and food add
an element of fun, and present with activities
to do together which I think is what the
holidays are about - spending time and doing
fun things with your family and friends.
Perhaps these have been commercialized quite
a lot. If there was an option that is more toned
down but with the same festive experience, I'd
love to explore that option. It's a no-brainer."
Student in London
"Possibly but not if it significantly impacts the
outcome of the events."
P r o f e s s i o n a l i n F i n a n ce , 3 1
They do not want to take sustainable action if
they have to compromise the quality of the
f e s t i v e e x p e r i e n c e.
Associations with the holidays
Decorations with stories &
memories attached to them
Thought behind the gif t s
Smel l of baking & the oven
 Systems Map
Cause | Effect | Stakeholders | Int e ract io ns

"Elements like gifting, "I think brands know about the issue
decorating, and food add an of over-consumption affected by
element of fun, and present advertising but this isn't the first
with activities to do together, problem they need to tackle. Their
which I think is what the primary objective is to grow sales
holidays are about - spending during holiday so that they can
time and doing fun things sense of sustain their business" - A Former
with your family and friends." "...change from
belonging Summer Festivals Social Media Planner at an Advertising Agency
gift-giving
routine" Magazines
Black Friday
Birthdays

loneliness Valentine's Day Word of Mouth In 2021 Christmas, British

Bilboards companies were predicted
to spend 13% more budget
on advertising compared to
enjoy the family Christmas Halloween t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r (T h e
summer sense of warmth traditions Weddings G u a r d i a n , 2 0 2 1) .
in the winter
Television

users events marketing

Supermarket chains

Fast-fashion

Sharing Economy UK Cultural Moments of companies

policy makers Consumption
Home Furnishing

waste Cafes

United Nations
nature environment
Build new policies to
UK Government production
improve UK's sharing Food
economy market to Decoration
encourage more users of
collaborative services. single-use
Waste dumped in the products
oceans

Exploitative
Seasonal Flu/ Labour Practices
Sicknesses Costumes
Exports & Imports A variety of products
are wasted during
Packaging
Covid-19 restrictions Covid-19 Pandemic
cultural moments.
impacted the way people ex. 4.2 million
celebrate during cultural Christmas dinners, 7
events. Raw Materials million Halloween
Natural Resources
costumes wasted.

Spending time with family

The pandemic removed the
sense of how Christmas ‘has
to be’ and allowed people to
think about new ways of
being. - Counsellor Michelle
Ruth
The huge amount of plastic packaging is
during Christmas has been a Plastic production used during product production. ex.
tradition. However, the 8 million natural Christmas
3,000 tonnes of turkey packaging is used
pandemic now has made trees are used each year and
during Christmas, the plastic element of
people rethink who they want about 7 million of them are
this alone is equivalent to the weight of
to spend time with w a s t e d (I N D E P E N D E N T , 2 0 1 9) .
3 0 b l u e w h a l e s (G W P , 2 0 2 1) .
(M E T R O . c o . u k , 2 0 2 1) .

Student Service Design Challenge

03 | Research Proposal
 Key Insights Design Challenge
Whil e the feel ing of l on e lines s ha s be e n a n is s ue d ue t o t he
pandemic, cul tural cel ebr at io ns pl ay a c rucia l role in t he U K ’s The problem we are trying to solve
cul ture. It’s for peopl e t o ge t tog e t he r wit h the ir b e lov e d one s , During cultural moments, people prioritise the quality of the
famil y, and friends. Most people we int e rvie we d e xpre s s e d an experience over sustainability.
emotional connection with the mome nt s a s well as it e ms t he y
use for event preparation. Pe ople a re a ware o f an e nv ironme nt al
issue caused by those ce le br at io ns but the y do not want t o T h e im p a c t w e h o p e t o h a v e
compromise the qual ity o f the fe s t ive expe rience . Enabling a sustainable experience of cultural moments while
retaining or enhancing the value created through these
experiences.

>> How might we encourage conscious consumption during

cultural moments that are collaborative and sustainable, while
retaining the quality of the experience?

Potential Opportunities
Different ways of engaging a broader audience that currently
does not buy in to the collaborative economy.
Enabling people who find themselves feeling lonely to engage
in collaborative experiences during cultural events.
Making the solution adaptive to different users’
circumstances.

Next Steps
Text : Excerpts from Material Anthropologist Daniel Miller's book
"The Comfort of Things", Chapter 2 "More"

Explore and Define user groups and their values

Companies promote their pr odu ct s a round cult ural mome nt s and
this is one of the factor s that drive s o ver-cons umpt i on. The y are Understand relationships between users and each stakeholder
aware of the issue of it but the ir pr io rity is to g row s ale s and t he i r Identify points of intervention in the user’s journey
business first over providing a sus t aina bl e pr od uct cycle .

Student Service Design Challenge

04 | Research Proposal