Possessed by Bruce Hood
Author:Bruce Hood [Hood, Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780241409961
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2019-08-28T22:00:00+00:00
DRESS TO IMPRESS
The global luxury market is worth an estimated $1.2 trillion, with personal goods representing $285 billion of that amount.14 Branding is the visible identity of a product and a vital component of luxury goods. Having a simple logo on your chest can be surprisingly powerful. In one study, people who wore luxury brands (Tommy Hilfiger or Lacoste) were more likely to be considered for a job, were better at raising money from others, and were generally more effective at getting people to comply with their requests than people who wore clothes from the local thrift or charity store.15
Manufacturers vigorously defend brand identity by prosecuting rip-offs and fake merchandise. Customers equally value authenticity. Thalia Gjersoe and I tested this in a study of over eight hundred US and Indian adults, where we told participants to imagine a duplicating machine that could make exact copies of items such that they were indistinguishable from the originals.16 We then asked them to put a price on each. Adults from both cultures valued copies less than the originals, but the effect was more pronounced in the West. The same is true for luxury goods. People expect originals when they buy luxury and feel cheated if the item is not authentic even if it is effectively indistinguishable from the real thing.
To be an effective signal, luxury should also not be affordable to everyone. This is what makes luxury goods exclusive and embodies their appeal for those who buy them. They are signalling a string of privileges and opportunities that make them elite. We tally up all these signals when it comes to judging the pedigree of others. If you attend a good school – signalled by your college scarf – then chances are that you either come from a wealthy background (tick) or possess exceptional skills (tick). You will be exposed to other successful individuals that share these attributes and so increase your chances that you benefit from the same mechanisms through networking (tick and tick). Employers will value the same selection process and so hedge their bets, thus perpetuating a system geared to favour the successful (more ticks). To do otherwise would be fairer, but also riskier.
If you never had those opportunities or privileges, then you can invest in expensive purchases to deceptively signal that you are successful even though you did not go to the best schools. Or you could try faking it until you make it with knock-off copies, because the chances are that perceived success will generate opportunities for future success. Even those who should not need to fake their success still seem susceptible to signalling deception. According to the actor Charlie Sheen, Donald Trump gifted the actor a set of his own platinum and diamond cufflinks that he was wearing at an event dinner as a present for Sheen’s forthcoming wedding.17 Only months later did the actor discover that they were cheap counterfeits. Whether they were fakes or not, this spontaneous gifting was still a gesture which was intended to signal power.
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