Of the top 10 items bought in the middle-of-the-night, icecream (the most female-biased purchased item) ranked at Number Ten, purchased by one in 27 people. This middle-of-the-night purchase is closely followed by condoms, also purchased by one in 27 people – but bought by one in 15 men compared to just one in 80 women. Amongst those aged 18-24 of both sexes, one in 12 purchased condoms during the night. When it comes to middle-of-the-night purchases, cigarettes are bought by the largest number of people, closely followed by alcohol, then petrol, all of which are purchased by between one in 6 and one in 7 of the ‘midnight market ’. Cigarettes, alcohol and chocolates have all been bought in the middle-of-the-night by around a third of all 18-24 year olds. Confectionery, milk and soft drinks are bought in the middle-of-the-night by 1 in 8 people, while one in 12 buys crisps. A similar proportion buy medicines or headache remedies. Middle-of-the-night shopping depends, of course, upon the goods provided by late night retailers. Petrol stations are very important and this is supported by the high incidence of petrol bought during this time. However, ‘distress’ items, including medicines, condoms and headache remedies also have a relatively high incidence - despite the fact that such purchases are not usually associated with petrol stations. This may indicate that a market exists for 24-hour convenience stores as well as vending machines, both of which supply many of the products listed. For almost every item, there is a similar profile for its typical ‘midnight buyer’. Possibly due to safety fears, a purchaser is twice as likely to be male than female, twice as likely to be under 35 than over 35 and twice as likely to be ABC1 than C2DE - thus willing to pay a price premium. According to Andrea Wilson, Managing Director, Taylor Nelson Sofres Consumer, "These findings show that middle-of-the-night purchases are motivated by hedonism - smoking, drinking, snacking and sex. This is partially explained by the range of goods provided by retailers open in the middle of the night, such as petrol stations. What is most interesting, however, are the gender differences: the ice-cream and condoms comparison, for example, could be interpreted as women appearing to prefer ice-cream to sex!" The research was undertaken using Taylor Nelson Sofres’ Field Control in July 2000, based on a representative sample of 2,268 adults (aged 18 years and over) in England.