So, I am reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink for LATI and on page 34 he has a picture of a $5.99 toilet brush designed by the venerable and esteemed architect Michael Graves for Target. His point with this illustration is to show that only in a time of abundance could such mundane and utilitarian products be elavated to such status. I just looked at toilet brushes on Target and found that the median price was about $17.00. On Amazon I found an Alessi toilet brush for $59.99 - and that wasn't even the most expensive one. Pink then continues on to say that while abundance has brought beautiful material goods and that we are living in a time of prosperity that the paradox of the this is that we are not fufilled by it and are searching for meaning. This made me think of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) and "conspiciuos consumption" truly everything that is old is new again.
1 comment:
One does stop and think about the conspicuous consumption mentality...great comments and insghts.
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