How the ‘little treat’ became a talisman in our search for meaning

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thirsty man in possession of a good fortune – or just, like, a few extra pounds in the bank account – must be in want of a little treat. At least, that’s what the data says, with a reported 77 per cent of gen Z consumers treating themselves at least once a week in 2026 (compared with 66 per cent of consumers overall). And this has been a clear trend for a few years now. Since 2022 at least, “treat brain” has seen young people splurging regularly on everything from the occasional fancy matcha to a new beauty product, from an organic fizzy drink to a subscription for yet another niche cinema streaming service. 

Picture this: you’ve had a terrible day at work, you’re walking home from the Tube, and you’re wondering what could turn the evening around. The answer is obvious, really: a little treat! Or maybe you’ve just delivered a difficult project and you’re still glowing with positive feedback. Grab a drink with friends as a little treat – you’ve earned it! Maybe you haven’t quite wrapped up the project yet, and you still have a long night ahead of you to hit your deadline, just you, your laptop, and … you’ve guessed it – a little treat to get you through to the other side. And while a beer or glass of wine might once have occupied the top spot on the treat pyramid, other drinks are fast overtaking them, with gen Z flocking to sober bars and taking a more mindful approach to their drinking habits. Case in point: in the UK, one in three residents took part in Dry January in 2026.

We’ve all heard the rebuttals to this rising treat culture, as well. Most famously, there are the boomers who claim that millennials and gen Z could afford to get on the property ladder just like they did, if only they didn’t enjoy an iced latte on the weekends. (God forbid they read a graph.) But more recently, even the Bank of America has got in on the action, publishing a “reality check” on gen Z’s historic savings-to-spending ratio.

What if we told you, though, that young people probably didn’t just decide overnight to spend their money on treats for no reason? What if we told you that treat culture runs much deeper? According to another helpful study published in 2025, a majority of both gen Z (87 per cent) and millennials (84 per cent) consider a range of non-essential items and services to be “necessities” – meaning things that they’re willing to spend money on regardless of their financial situation.

How did treats – and lovely little drinks – take on such an essential role in our imagination? Well, for one, they play a growing role in people’s social lives, largely thanks to the erosion of third spaces for communities to gather. This has partly fuelled the rise of caffeine culture among gen Z, as they search for spaces to hang out (especially if they don’t want to drink alcohol every time they meet up with their friends). Can’t find a community centre with its doors open? Pop into your nearest KFC, for the price of a Kwench Raspberry Lemonade, and you’ve got your own ready-made meeting spot.

It’s no secret that brands are becoming increasingly tangled up with people’s sense of individual identity as well, in an era of constantly shifting, algorithmically mediated aesthetics (see: Dazed’s 2026 Parafaith report). To return to the previous scene for a moment, brands like KFC are keen to cater to this desire; its Kwench range alone includes plenty of opportunities for product-led self-expression, from Cloudy Lemonade to Iced Coffee.

A final – and maybe more bleak – lens through which to understand treat culture comes via the so-called “lipstick effect”. Popularised by Leonard Lauder, former chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies, this describes a phenomenon where people buy more small, comparatively affordable ‘luxury’ goods in times of economic hardship and financial instability, since they can’t imagine affording big-ticket items like a car or a house anytime soon. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re living through a cost-of-living crisis right now, and this theory offers an explanation for the uptick of treats even as our bank balances dwindle.

Over the years, there have been various attempts to understand the root causes behind the lipstick effect. Some leading theories? In times of stress, we turn to self-care and small indulgences to soothe ourselves. Small luxuries enable us to signal our interests and find our tribe, while remaining affordable. And choosing a treat might also give us a sense of control that we’re lacking in other parts of our lives. In 2026, there’s one more factor that you can add into the mix: the sense of impending doom that laces our conversations and dominates our social feeds. Put simply: if we no longer believe in the future, why not enjoy the here and now? Why not treat ourselves to a Vanilla Iced Matcha for the road?