Sparking joy

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you must have heard of Marie Kondo, the world-renowned organizing expert and bestselling author of “The life-changing magic of tidying up.”

Until very recently, the decluttering guru held a steadfast belief that a tidy house was key to having a tidy mind. “Does it spark joy?” she’d ask when deciding whether to keep or toss an item. And she fully believed that the magic of maintaining a clutter-free space spreads to other areas of your life, making you happier, more productive, and even more profitable.

But after having her third child, it appears Marie Kondo has officially “kind of given up” on tidying, which has caused a significant peak in the online conversation.

Reactions to the Marie Kondo news

We compared the sentiment in Marie Kondo-related conversations between January 1 – 31 2023, and December 1 – 31 2022. (Before and after announcing she’s “given up” on tidiness).

As the chart shows, there was an increase of negative mentions by 259%, most of them discussing their disappointment with Marie Kondo’s inability to keep up with her own philosophy.

All in all, people had mixed reactions on social media but the most interesting shift in conversation has to be the incredible rise in positive mentions. In fact, the volume of positive mentions related to Marie Kondo grew by 1,700% after she told The Washington Post that her home is now messy. Many people – parents in particular – readily embraced Marie Kondo’s changing priorities, saying it was refreshing and validating to read or that they’re proud of her for publicly owning that priorities change.

Marie Kondo becoming a household name

Becoming a household name is a dream come true for any brand. The really special ones even work their way into our vocabularies, becoming verbs over time. We all google information, slack our colleagues, and photoshop our pictures (it’s cheaper than the dentist). We scotch-tape things together, and we uber around from A to B.

Over the years, Marie Kondo has been bestowed this same honor, and people often refer to their organizing activities as “Marie Kondo-ing.”

We looked at the mentions in conversations with “to Marie Kondo” and “Marie Kondo-ing” shared on social media between January 1 2019 – January 31 2023. We then grouped those mentions into eight categories and ranked them based on the volume of mentions in each category.

As you can see from the chart, people often discussed their homes, lives, and mental state in conversations mentioning “to Marie Kondo” or “Marie Kondo-ing.” “People” came in third, with some individuals literally using the phrase “Marie Kondo-ing people in your life.”

Some apparently associate Marie Kondo with getting closure – we found 1,465 mentions in the past three years.

So Marie Kondo gave up on tidying. Now what?

Even with Marie Kondo having lowered the bar, we’ll likely still be tidying up by category, getting rid of bad furniture, bad food, bad relationships, and bad energy.

Only now, we don’t have the pressure to roll up our socks in a specific way. And that does indeed spark joy.

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The Brandwatch Bulletin team