Mind you that's a study done in South Korea, a place where Burberry and Louis Vuitton have weird meanings and status they don't elsewhere. One of the amusing th

Mind you that's a study done in South Korea, a place where Burberry and Louis Vuitton have weird meanings and status they don't elsewhere. One of the amusing things about this conversation is that overtly branded items (Vuitton, Burberry, Rolex) are really big in Asian countries in a way they simply aren't anywhere else. I had a South Korean physics colleague whose wife bought him some preposterously expensive Louis Vuitton organizer (basically a $2000 leather folder) when he got his Ph.D. He looked ... out of place with it around the physics department, where most of the people just dressed like nerds, or had tweed sports coats or whatever, but you could tell it was a big deal to both of them. It's interesting the success/taste/status signals used by different social groups. Sales guys and lawyers often use shoes and watches for such things; a bit more subtle than a bag with branding logo all over, but serves the same purpose.