Toilet Paper Rumors and Hoarding Induced by the Spread of Coronavirus Infections

Discussing the Role and Responsibility of News Reporting

Published: July 1, 2020

Amid the spread of coronavirus infections, the author investigates how rumors of toilet papers shortages and hoarding started as well as how these two phenomena interacted with each other. Based on that, the paper examines the role and responsibility of news reporting to properly restrain rumors and panic buying. The findings and considerations are as follows.

– The start of a rumor that toilet paper will be running out was affected by the following psychological factors: the shortage of masks, the 1970s energy crisis known as “oil shock” in Japan, and overseas panic buying. The rumors disseminated in Japan and Singapore and other contries had almost the same content and spread beyond borders, induced by pandemic fears expanding across the globe.

– Hoarding behavior, which was triggered by the rumors and began sporadically across Japan, accelerated on February 28th. The main accelerator was TV broadcasts that reported that toilet paper was running out of stock at retail stores.

– Only a few people hoarded toilet paper just because they believed the rumors. Many people who hoarded did not believe the rumors. They felt deeply anxious that others believing the rumors were buying up toilet paper, which was making it extremely hard to get the item, and they ended up joining in stockpiling. Such a psychology prevailed in response to the increase in the number of shops running out of toilet paper, which spurred panic buying.

– Information and news reporting that denied the rumors were not convincing enough because toilet paper was actually disappearing from shop shelves. The more stockpiling accelerated, the more people become anxious about supply shortage, and the denial of rumors became less and less effective.

– The spread of rumors should be suppressed before they turn into a crowd behavior that have negative impacts on society.

The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research

FUKUNAGA Hidehiko

in Japanese