Rectangular magnets

After reading this article, you’ll never look at your fridge magnets in the same way again. Magnets cute gifts ideas, magnets unique gifts to personalise

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As part of a study published by the journal Science Direct in the Annals of Tourism Research in March 2024, a team of researchers from the University of Liverpool looked into the important significance… of magnets on the fridge.

Decorating the fridge: original, kitsch and… superfluous? 

Decorating your fridge is the perfect opportunity to express your kitsch side. Photos, magnets, knick-knacks of all kinds – anything goes on this central kitchen feature. Nothing is too colourful, too ridiculous or too much, and the metallic or plastic-coated front of the fridge can often be the perfect place to start a conversation. 

But what would a fridge be without its magnets, brought back from various trips? Sometimes totally random, often with a rather… original look, they’re a good way of recalling fond memories of trips taken, monuments visited and stages travelled through.

Magnets and travel 

A team of researchers from the University of Liverpool has been looking into this strange common craze. According to John Byrom, lead author of the study, these magnets are often found right in front of our eyes, continually updating the memories they represent and making them ‘very different […] from an image that gradually becomes wallpaper’. 

The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 19 Britons who had at least 20 magnets on their fridge, revealing that these memories helped to preserve memories while triggering emotions. Some of the subjects said that these magnets were more important than the photos they had taken on their travels. Some even preferred not to bother taking photographs: ‘You go anywhere, you can obviously take 50 to 100 photos in a day… Whereas now I don’t tend to take photos of anything… I’ll just take a fridge magnet at the end’, explained one of the participants.

Time marker and memory keeper 

For some people, buying a magnet to mark a visit to a particular country has become an almost visceral obligation, to the point where it can cause stress and anxiety. One participant told the researchers that she had a magnet delivered to her home after forgetting to bring one home. Another explained that she had bought one in a hurry at the airport, and later regretted her purchase. 

But magnets can also take on a deeper, more symbolic meaning than a simple shopping spree, or a role as a reminder of countries and places visited. They can also be used as a time marker to measure personal, professional or emotional development. One of the guinea pigs explained to the researchers that she kept a magnet, brought back from a trip to Spain that had not gone well, and that it reminded her every day of the ordeals she had been through. 

So, are the magnets on your fridge just a shameful decoration or a powerful emotional symbol?