Swatch fever: An allegory for understanding the paradox of collecting
✍ Scribed by Mary M. Long; Leon G. Schiffman
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 122 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0742-6046
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The rise of the phenomenon referred to as "Swatch Fever,'' collectors' seemingly insatiable desire for Swatch watches during the late 1980s to early 1990s, can be considered an allegory for collecting behavior in general. Using the dynamic progression of Swatch Fever, this article explores what motivates consumers to engage in collecting behavior. Based on this analysis as well as the current literature on collecting, the authors examine the paradoxical nature of collecting in order to add to the understanding of collecting as a phenomenon that is both rational and irrational, deliberate and uncontrollable, cooperative and competitive, passive and aggressive, and tension producing and tension reducing.