Tat

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Tat is a British colloquial term given to consumer items the primary purpose of which is to satisfy the impulse to spend money. items which qualify as tat will usually conform to the following characteristics:

• Cheap to buy
• Of low quality
• Cheaply mass-produced
• Largely of plastic composition
• Of only temporary amusement value
• Rarely of any practical use
• Possessing no lasting monetary or resale value
• Limited aesthetic appeal or broadly considered to be in poor taste

The genesis of Tat

Tat is a modern western phenomenon, emerging in the late 20th century. The unique circumstances which facilitated this emergence are a combination of the rapid evolution of plastic production technology and the development of working relationships with poorer, ‘labour-rich’ countries. With the development of plastics and their increasingly cheap production, came the opportunity to produce novelty items at a low enough cost that they could be sold at an attractively low price while still ensuring a profit for the producer. The cheap production inevitably means low quality but as these are novelty items with short term appeal and little or no practical use, (aimed instead at providing momentary amusement) lasting quality is not a necessary feature. The development of, for example, Anglo-Chinese production relationships, along with the development of global infrastructure between labour-rich nations and the west, further decreased tat production cost, increasing the profit margin per item sold.

Along with cheap production the other necessary prerequisite for the emergence of tat was the widespread economic wellbeing seen in the 20th century, sufficiently so that expenditure on unnecessary items could become possible or even desirable. Further, Keynsian economics, dependent upon continuous spending to maintain a healthy economy became increasingly popular from the 1930s and subsequently the rise of Wikipedia:Consumerism and the concept of Wikipedia:retail therapy (spending money as a hobby or for enjoyment) flourished in the latter half of the century. Additionally we should note the rise of child spending power during this era, affording tat producers opportunity to cash in on the ubiquitous tendency among children to impulse buy. This goes some way toward explaining the proliferation of tat available at British seaside resorts frequented by young families.

Economic effects of Tat

Tat items have practically no resale value, depreciating immediately after purchase. They should not, therefore, be considered assets. It follows that creating such items does not constitute long-term wealth creation but is rather a means of transferring to the tat producer small quantities of money from vast numbers of people. in short, tat production is an opportunity for money wastage for the buyer who seeks temporary shallow amusement, and an opportunity to capitalise on that willingness to waste small quantities of money on the part of the producer. That there is a wise and industrious benefactor of the consumer's wastefulness does not constitute wealth creation, only inter-person wealth transfer.

It could be postulated that a proliferation of tat in an economy is likely to have a profoundly negative effect in the event of a recession. Tat being unnecessary and dependent upon a willingness to waste money, when money becomes scarce tat may be the first thing no longer purchased. The tat producers will go bankrupt, and the tax on the purchase of tat will vastly deplete. This in turn may spark panic 'quantitative easing' by the government to stimulate money waste again by revitalising expenditure on tat, thereby debasing the currency and weakening the national wealth. An economy less dependent upon tat production and consumption will be less exposed to this aspect of recession.

Examples of Tat

The designation of an item as tat is ultimately subjective and a matter of personal taste, even when the other defining attributes are satisfied. The non-durable nature of tat means that tat is commonly purchased to commemorate or celebrate minor events or life-experiences. Items considered as tat are often bought and sold as cheap souvenirs from traditional British holiday destinations, and include:

• novelty plastic mechanical puzzles
• overpriced number plates that Faz bought into stock at £255 and advertises at between £2,500 and £97,000.
• items used for practical jokes
• plastic representations of famous persons or landmarks
• inflatable artifacts that serve no practical function, such as inflatable hammers
• plastic jewellery of sufficiently basic design so as to make it easily distinguishable from genuine or costume jewellery
• any type of pocket teleidoscope

Tat is also bought as a low-cost way to celebrate minor events such as grandparents' day, for example plastic items bearing the logo "Best Grandad".

http://www.shelfofshame.com is a website displaying a collection of tourist tat from around the world.