Conspicuous Consumption

The video we watched in class this past week was the second time within the week that I had been introduced to the idea of conspicuous consumption. Although the principle of this had been familiar with me, I had never been able to put a name to it. Conspicuous consumption is the idea of people purchasing or acquiring items that will enhance their social status, or the view others view them. An example would be purchasing a t-shirt with a logo on it, rather than a nameless t-shirt that is made of the same material and size.

Everybody has made a decision like this, and more often than not the consumer will choose the item with the desirable logo if they are similarly priced. As mentioned in the video, it was not until pretty recently in our history that items have begun advertising logos on the outside of items in easily visible places. With the increased competition within markets it has become more and more important to maximize advertising and promotion for a product. Brand name has also become increasingly important as the competition within markets increases.

Companies that established good brand names early in the revolution of advertising and promotion on memorabilia have continued to maintain them for the most part throughout time. Nike is a perfect example of this, by continuing to have success from the 1980's until the present day. They are known worldwide, and there logo is one of the most recognizable there is. There are many occurrences where they make sales just because of their brand name alone. If you placed 2 identical sneakers in front of someone and they were the same price, but one had a Nike swoosh  on it, I can almost guarantee that they would choose the Nike shoe. Whether or not this good, bad, or indifferent, it is in fact reality.

Do you think conspicuous consumption will become worse as time goes on? Or have we reached the peak?