How a fridge magnet can give you that holiday boost

THEY might be seen as ‘tat’ picked up on holiday.

But catching a glimpse of a fridge magnet in the kitchen can boost a traveller’s mood long after the trip has ended.

Research has found the souvenirs can help to protect memories and trigger positive emotional responses.

Britons surveyed said picking one up was a priority while away – with some finding greater joy in magnet collections than photo albums.

One participant said: ‘I don’t tend to take a picture of anything… I’ll just get a fridge magnet at the end, and I can remember it all from that.’

The purchases were found to be a repeated behaviour, with one woman recalling a ‘massive panic’ after realising she hadn’t bought one on her way home.

Many said they were reminded of their holidays every time they opened the fridge door – particularly when a magnet fell off. Some magnets had become attached to more poignant

‘Better than photographs’

memories over the years, serving as a reminder of trips taken with friends or family members who had since died.

Writing in the journal Annals of Tourism Research, study leaders from the University of Liverpool said: ‘ While souvenirs have generated considerable interest within tourism research, less attention has been paid to their post-holiday “afterlife”.

‘Fridge magnets are unusual among souvenirs in being intended for a single and specific destination within the home – the fridge.

‘Because of their embeddedness within everyday domestic rhythms, magnets are active agents in the stimulation of post-holiday memory work… [they] have a complex capacity to affect everyday life long after a holiday ends.’