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They surveyed college classes in the U.S. They asked students in person to raise their hands if they felt their purchasing decisions were influenced by advertis

They surveyed college classes in the U.S. They asked students in person to raise their hands if they felt their purchasing decisions were influenced by advertising. Almost nobody raised their hands. They also observed that many of those who didn't raise their hands were wearing branded clothes and hats at the time I do believe that people are often more affected by advertising than they believe, but this anecdote doesn't establish that. You'd have to show that they wouldn't have bought the clothes without the branding.

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
That's hardly difficult. Why do people buy branded clothes when no-label clothes of equivalent quality are available at much lower cost? What else except branding justifies the ticket on a $5000 handbag? Even if you accept the fact that it's (allegedly) hand-made from the finest raw materials, the BOM and labour cost a negligible fraction of the consumer price. And here's the real problem - people think they're buying handbags, clothes, cars, and computers, but really they're just buying capitalist fetish objects. Advertising doesn't sell stuff, it sells a distorted and rather mad morality where conspicuous wealth and status display is the ultimate moral good. Should we question that? Damn right we should. It's effectively a repackaging of the religious mode of discourse with a novel moral payload, and it's as destructive to rational freedom of thought as any other religion.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  Veblen goods.
kuschku 11y ago
The standard TV consumer magazines show that every week. "We’ll test 3 products in a blind A/B test against each other. We test a 10$ Aldi no-name product, a 20$ product from another discounter, a 80$ brand product, and a 180$ product from a brand associatiated with quality" And then, after the practical and scientific testing: "We were surprised, the discounter product ended doing better than the brand product. Let’s see what our testers say: 'I’ll never buy a product from that brand again, I thought I’d get my money back in worth, but this? I can just as well buy from Aldi then'"

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago

That's hardly difficult. Why do people buy branded clothes when no-label clothes of equivalent quality are available at much lower cost? What else except branding justifies the ticket on a $5000 handbag? Even if you accept the fact that it's (allegedly) hand-made from the finest raw materials, the BOM and labour cost a negligible fraction of the consumer price. And here's the real problem - people think they're buying handbags, clothes, cars, and computers, but really they're just buying capitalist fetish objects. Advertising doesn't sell stuff, it sells a distorted and rather mad morality where conspicuous wealth and status display is the ultimate moral good. Should we question that? Damn right we should. It's effectively a repackaging of the religious mode of discourse with a novel moral payload, and it's as destructive to rational freedom of thought as any other religion.

dredmorbius 11y ago
Veblen goods.

kuschku 11y ago

The standard TV consumer magazines show that every week. "We’ll test 3 products in a blind A/B test against each other. We test a 10$ Aldi no-name product, a 20$ product from another discounter, a 80$ brand product, and a 180$ product from a brand associatiated with quality" And then, after the practical and scientific testing: "We were surprised, the discounter product ended doing better than the brand product. Let’s see what our testers say: 'I’ll never buy a product from that brand again, I thought I’d get my money back in worth, but this? I can just as well buy from Aldi then'"