I think that when I was younger and in high school status was more important than it is now. Before it was all about what clothing brands all the "cool" kids were wearing. During this phase, I would try to purchase the brands that kept up with the latest fashions or fads. Pretty much every type of product has a high end brand. For example, in the watch industry Rolex is at the top. In the computer industry, most people would say that the Mac is at the top. One major clothing competitor is UGG boots. You can walk through pretty much any college campus and see a large amount of girls wearing them mostly because they are comfortable but you have to admit that they do come with a certain status. I remember talking to somebody and having them say, "wearing UGG boot knock offs are not the same as wearing the actual brand." Thus implying that the status is all that matters. Below is a picture of an authentic pair of UGG boots on the left and a knock off brand on the right. They look pretty similar, but the knock offs are significantly cheaper than the original pair. I will admit that, when I was in high school I did was authentic UGG boots and made it a point to save the money up to buy the "real thing." I think status is something that has become very important to a lot of people. This applies especially to younger kids. They want to have the best of the best to fit in, and I can't help but notice that this may be due to the rising importance in status that they are observing around them and in the media.
Do you think status is something that has increasingly become more important to people? Is status a large contributor to you when you make a purchase?
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| UGG Boot |
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| Knock Off |
