Happy Ever After: A Radical New Approach to Living Well

by Paul Dolan

There are three key elements to status-seeking consumption. First, the goods must be limited in supply: if everyone could get the same pair of Valentino trainers, it would be much harder for you to show off your uniquely enviable position as their owner. Second, the consumption must be visible: if no one notices your trainers, because they have a discreet or forgettable design, others couldn’t possibly know you were rich. Visibility can refer to physical visibility to other people and/or to social visibility, where our status is expressed in social cues. Going on holiday somewhere luxurious, for instance, is somewhat physically visible through a tan, but it is mostly socially visible. (I’m sure you have experienced a friend or colleague boring you to tears with stories of their adventure holiday, or endless photos of waterfalls and beaches.) The third element of status-seeking consumption is that there is a weak association between price and quality. If price goes up and quality remains unchanged and people still buy the article, they are buying it purely for the status it affords them. This is a fantastic marketing ploy that nearly all of us status-seeking humans seem to fall for; the relationship between price and quality is a lot weaker for lipsticks than it is for facial cleansers, for example.