The first time I visited the US in 2014, I was blown away by how big everything was. Huge stores, massive cars. It didn’t make sense to me. Why is one person driving to the grocery store to buy fruits in a massive vehicle?
I read an interesting nugget in Status Games - by Will Storr about how vehicle manufacturers persuaded the US public that long cars = higher status!
Manufacturers started marketing keeping the tone such as Dodge’s radio commercial “Boy you must be rich to own a car as big as this” and Plymouth’s “We’re not wealthy, we just look it!”
Plymouth Ad from 1957
This incident in particular stood out to me -
'“Robert Wagner, the mayor of New York, declared they’d be buying no more Cadillacs until they were shrunk, only to be defied by his own City Controller who defended himself thusly: The top officials of the city, for the dignity of their offices, should have Cadillacs."
Status games aren’t new by any means. The desire for high status has existed right from the beginning. Isn’t it crazy to think the status games we play today are effective marketing tools to sell more products? The newest Iphone, limited edition sneakers etc. The next time you think you ‘need’ a certain product - try and be honest with yourself - is it because you have utility from it or is it a signal?
Post 18/30