British consumers much 'angrier' than they were in 2016 finds BMB study
Marketing’s first ever quantitative survey of British anger has revealed that consumers are much angrier than they were in 2016.
Brits are angrier as a nation than they were just one year ago, with 21% of UK adults agreeing that they were experiencing rage
The research, conducted by BMB in conjunction with The Drum and House51, found that Brits were angrier as a nation than they were just one year ago, with 21% of UK adults agreeing that they were experiencing heightened rage.
Meanwhile, 37% of respondents admitted they were quicker to point the finger at everyone else, noting they were more likely to call others out for being angry. Just 21% of UK adults admitted they had been angry on the day they were interviewed for the survey, while 60% said they got angry at least once a week.
The data indicated that the 'angriest hotspots' in Britain were Northern England and most of Scotland, with 84% and 70% respectively.
When it came to gender, the research found that 62% of women had felt angry in in the past week compared with 58% of men.
Social commentators have spoken of an ‘age of outrage’ and ‘an epidemic of anger’ and the study found that most of this was due to the political climate.
Many respondents highlighted that a strong political divide was the driving force behind their rage: “Reading the current actions of the government. I am furious that our country is being tricked into becoming a petty racist backwater," said one interviewee.
The anger habits of younger consumers were also uncovered, with further detail available in The Drum's recent anger issue, which explored why the emotion can be a positive force when it comes to creativity.
According to BMB, evidence shows there is ‘good’ as well as ‘bad’ anger, and 'pro-social as well as anti-social outcomes'. The agency that has noted that consumer communications can effectively harness the latter, with the tool already being used in charity campaigns that elicit angry responses in order to drive higher donations.
This piece is a summary of a feature on the research that ran in The Drum's Anger Issue, which also featured extended viewpoints from creatives such as Trevor Beattie, John Lydon, Heidi Hackemer and included articles examining the #Blacklivesmatter movement and to which extent anger is a positive or negative emotion.