When you go to the store, what prompts you to buy a product? The Good Value© brand crispy rice cereal or the "snap", crackle", and "pop" of Rice Crispies©. Now think about it they both make the crackling sound in milk, they both are made of rice they both have relatively the same nutritional value. What makes Rice Crispies© so much better? You got it, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Just because the box is blue and there are some cool cartoons on it, the cereal is supposed to be super fortified and needs to cost 5000% more right? You're paying for the comfort of knowing that you are eating a name. I was thinking about this today at work. Let me preface this with a few things. I shop at thrift stores, LOVE to save money, and the only name brand I really care about are my Converse, HAIL TO THE CHUCKS!. C'mon I got married in my Chucks, everyone has their vices so leave me alone...
Anyway, there's this one group of "ladies", I'm being very generous, that work in the other part of our building. Luckily, I don't have to hear the incessant babble about the newest Coach bag or Prada bag or Dolce & Gabbanananana glasses they just bought for $35,000. I just can't fathom how a person can justify paying an exorbitant amount of money for something that you can get at a fraction of the cost. It may be status thing , it may be a need to fit in, or just a simple preference. I remember back in middle school you HAD to have a Billabong jacket to even be considered normal. I never had one or wanted one but, then again, I was never really a normal kid (that, and I couldn't afford one, meh...) Back to the point, if you have two items identical in make, look, and aesthetics but one has a name brand on it, which one do you purchase?
In the book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, he was quoted as saying, "What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it..........." (1975).
After I read that, it put things in perspective a little bit. Think about it, who else is eating the same Campbell's tomato soup as you? It may be in a different bowl, different spoon, or right out of the can but, it doesn't really matter. Regardless of how much you paid for it, how hot or cold it is, or where it came from, it's all the same soup. Speaking of which, I need to eat some dinner. Mmmmmm....Mmmmmm....Good.
oh, lol, now that was good. i am not one for fashion, and i just don't get the what is in this year in comparison to what was in last year. i remember when bell bottoms came back in fashion, i was like, oh god, i would never be caught dead in a pair of bell bottoms again. there are only a couple of things i will pay full price for now a days, levi's 501 button up fly jeans, reebok tennis shoes, and a good tv, and maybe a tivo. and maybe a laptop computer, but i am going to try and find a refurbished laptop, because if i can save a buck, i am going to try. and thanks for the reminder, i'm hungry now too. :)
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