Have you been eyeing those new shoes or that new shirt, but know you just can’t afford it? Then it would be best to lay off the alcohol until they become unavailable.

This lesson was learned the hard way for Daniel Hocken, junior in civil engineering.

Hocken had been looking for a new stereo and had found one on eBay. The only problem was, he didn’t want to spend that much money.

“I knew I wanted it, but just kind of tight with my money and stuff so I decided not to purchase it, but it was still on my watched items list,” he said.

However, there was something that had enough power to change his mind: alcohol.

One night, Hocken decided to spend his night like many other students, by drinking. He got a little drunk and bought the stereo he had been watching, although he didn’t know it.

“Apparently I bought it because I came over to the UDCC to check my mail and had a package pick-up slip and took it up to the desk,” he said. “They gave me a big Fed-Ex package and opened it up, and there was the stereo that I really didn’t know I bought.”

Don’t worry about Hocken having a strained budget, though – he found a way around it.

“Honestly, I think I used my student loan refund for it,” he said. “I guess I took it as a personal living expense.”

The experience for a local area college senior, who requested to remain anonymous, was similar to that of Hocken.

He had been looking for a present for his father, and the Little Giant Ladder system had caught his eye. This item probably would not have been bought in a clearer state of mind, he said. However, he has no regrets.

“Looking back, I’m glad I did do it,” he said.

“My dad liked it, so it was a good deal,” he said.

People buying merchandise for reasons other than need is not something new, said John Wong, associate professor of marketing.

“There have been studies done in the past that show people shop for a lot of reasons other than for satisfying some specific need,” he said.

Buying an outfit because you’re going through a problem is an example he cited. Purchasing things while under the influence the alcohol is just another type of this shopping.

“It’s just a new version of people shopping for reasons other than meeting specific needs,” Wong said.

This is not a market that could be targeted by businesses because the group is so heterogeneous; it would be hard for a business to attract them, Wong said.

“I think that it’s pretty unethical because essentially you’re taking advantage of people who don’t have full control of their faculties,” he explained.

If a company tried to do this, its image would be tarnished in Wong’s opinion.

“If somebody actually does it, I think the court of public opinion would be very negative to its company if they were found out to take advantage of a situation like this,” he said.

Although he doesn’t really think trend will be big, Wong pointed out that it shows what the Web can do.

“This really touches on the power of the Internet,” he said.

Marty Martinez, staff psychologist with Student Counseling Services, said there are two reasons someone might partake in this kind of behavior. One reason is that when people are drunk, they are led by emotions and don’t use reasoning. The other reason Martinez cited is that people who normally shop online and spend a lot of time on the Internet are more likely to do something like this when they are drunk because of instinct.

“Someone who is more likely to buy things normally would do it when they are drunk,” he said.

Buying things while you’re drunk does not mean that you have an alcohol problem, Martinez said. He explained that you would have to take each case individually. However, he said it has the potential to be a problem.

Since many social drinking settings do not have access to a computer, Martinez said that could be a problem.

“Potentially they have a problem with alcohol because it may be they are drinking alone,” he said.

The second potential problem one could have is that of impulsivity. He said this is when a person tends to do things on impulse rather than using reasoning.

From a legal standpoint, trying to get out of paying for something that you bought while drunk would be quite a difficult feat, said Barbara Mack, attorney and associate professor of journalism and communication.

“Intoxication is no excuse for anything – rape, vehicular homicide, or purchasing items via the Internet or the telephone,” she said. “The purchaser is fully responsible for what he or she buys.”

The law requires people to be accountable for their actions, Mack said.

“People are responsible for their behavior – drunk or sober,” she said.