Items

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  2020-03-17

  Video - Toilet paper fight erupts at Coles in Melbourne

  HIST30060 I have chosen to upload this article because I distinctly remember when the public fights about toilet paper begun to surface on social media. Initially, I found it hilarious. And then scary. And then kinda sad. And then eventually some combination of all three, alongside a healthy dose of embarassment at the fact Australians would behave in such a way. While I personally never felt the panic that led to hoarding goods, I know many people who did, and I also remember my housemates and I resorting to using paper towels as toilet paper for a short while because it was impossible to find in the shops near our house.
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  2020-03-25

  The Battle of Costco

  HIST30060 - submitted as part of a history assignment. Again, like many other memes I encountered, this one comments on how the events of this year will be studied, but more importantly how they will be remembered (as emphasised by the almost commemorative nature of the statues). Humorously depicting parents and two children racing with an overflowing trolley full of food toward the check-outs as though it were a battle scene, this meme seeks to ridicule the absurdity of purchasing and hoarding mountains of food during the lock-down period. It suggests that violence in the isles and the toilet paper crisis that saw people literally fighting each other in order to obtain toilet paper will not be looked upon favourably by future historians or students. The way that the figures are carved in stone and the title of ‘The Battle of Costco (2020 A.D.)’ positions the audience to view the image in reference to other major historical conflicts and to find this one, humorously, falling short.
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  2020-02

  Hoarding toilet papers in Japan

  Between the end of February to the beginning of March, people started to hoard toilet papers. This was caused by an SNS post, which was fake, stating “Toilet paper is made mainly in China, and due to the COVID -19, the importation of toilet paper will be very limited and the stock will be gone”. This post itself did not cause a huge hoarding situation. What caused the hoarding was the feeling of fear and anxiety. Because of COVID-19, people were put into a different situation than so-called normal, and on TV, there were people lining up to buy toilet papers where you can see that the store is having limited stock left caused people to think “I need to get some too”. However, the reality was that most of the toilet papers that are sold in Japan are made in Japan, and if everyone does not hoard, then there will be more than enough for everyone. Even though the news said that all toilet was made in Japan, people still were hoarding because other people were and felt like if they do not buy one, they will not get the toilet paper for a while. My mother was also hoarding a lot of toilet papers, and now we probably have a stock that will last for months. The image is an example of how stores looked like in the toilet paper section, where there were no toilet papers.
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  2020-04-03

  Covid-19 Oregon Trail Meme

  This image reflects how many people ran to the stores and started buying all the toilet paper in stock, leaving none for the rest of us.