By Alexandra Smith
What’s Happening
• Manhattan’s Tompkins Square Park played host to the first-ever Unemployment Olympics in March 2009. Events included the “Fax Machine Toss,” “Pin the Blame on the Bosses” and some good old-fashioned piñata beating.
• Beijing it wasn’t. Participants weren’t concerned with time trials or qualifying heats. The only stipulation was that “athletes” provide proof of unemployment.
• The event was the brainchild of 20–something computer programmer Nick Goddard. No surprise: Goddard is unemployed himself.
What This Means to Business
• Unemployed or otherwise stressed out consumers (that would be most of them) crave gathering points with an emphasis on bonding rather than bitching—though a bit of smashing doesn’t hurt either.
• Misery loves company—and dark humor. Watch for younger consumers in particular to cope with economic anxiety by melding community, humor, and subversion.
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