NS article

Here reproduced large extracts from the New Statesman article mentioned in yesterday's posts:

"''Always have at least one treat to look forward to. Ideally you should have one mini-treat each day, a slightly bigger one every week and a bumper one each year. People with low self-esteem rarely treat themselves enough."

So writes Gael Lindenfield, "the UK's number-one confidence expert", in the 51st of the 365 day-by-day tips that make up her bestselling Self-Esteem Bible. Contained in this nugget of advice is the key to a whole new way of looking at the British economy.

Not many people realise this (not even the British Retail Consortium, whose spokeswoman had never heard of the idea until I put it to her), but self-esteem is one of Britain's fastest-growing industries, worth at least £15bn a year and possibly as much as £30bn, compared with £8bn for the whole of what remains of British agriculture.

Products, therapies, lifestyle advisers, magazines, books and television programmes aimed at boosting self-esteem and "well-being" have become big business in themselves, not least because boosting self-esteem is now heralded as a catalyst for improved productivity in every other business sector. People with high self-esteem, it is said, are more likely to enjoy their jobs, accept challenging targets, resist stress and cope with negative events, so selling self-esteem is more than just a good wheeze for those who claim to be able to package and sell it. It is like prescribing Viagra for the whole of Britain's productive economy.

The social theorist we have to thank for this perception is Andy Westwood of the Work Foundation, whose recently published paper Me, Myself and Work (sponsored, significantly, by the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association) sets out to examine why self-esteem is so important in our working lives today. In doing so, he provides some startling statistics. A survey of Yellow Pages directories since 1992 indicates a widespread decline in traditional shops and trades, but a 5,000 per cent increase in the number of aromatherapists. Roughly six million people in Britain pay a subscription to a private health club (though how often they visit them is another matter) and one British woman in five has attended a Weight Watchers class.


Clearly there is something going on in consumer markets, and it might be a response to a national epidemic of low self-esteem. Or it may be something much simpler: people have more money and time to spare for luxuries, and can overcome the guilt associated with luxuries by being persuaded that it helps address an inadequacy they did not realise was there in the first place.

A recent research exercise by Bridgepoint, the private equity firm, points out that while personal spending on food and clothing has remained relatively stable since 1978, spending on "leisure services" has more than tripled, partly because consumers no longer see any point in saving. As to how that leisure spend is allocated, focus groups say they are less interested in lifestyle brands and more interested in bargains (on eBay, for example) or treats: but the treat they value most is nothing more complicated than a bit of peace and quiet in the midst of their increasingly busy lives.

Meanwhile, more from Gael Lindenfield. Eighty-three: buy yourself a small book of motivational quotations. Ninety-nine: think of yourself as a product for sale. One hundred and seventeen: like celebrities, transform your appearance regularly. And finally, if Christmas shopping is getting you down, 119: imagine that you have three weeks to live."