Status Signalling: Prada in the East, Prius the West

Asia’s bling culture is at odds with a trend emerging in the West – the environmentally-friendly consumer.

Preview above: Why is the wealth gap in Hong Kong so extreme? Watch here.

Hong Kong has the highest concentration of ultra-rich people in the world. It is home to some of the most expensive real estate on the planet and despite a widening wealth gap in the city between the ultra-rich and the mega poor, those with money aren’t afraid to flash their luxury cars or designer brands on the street and social media.

Flaunting wealth is at odds with a cultural trend emerging in the West that is also about signaling status: the rise of conspicuous conservation, making it obvious to the people around you that you’re an environmentally-friendly consumer.

In 2011, a study from the University of California, Berkeley the authors observed owners of hybrid cars such as Toyota’s Prius were not just purchasing the vehicles for reasons beyond the environmental footprint and altruism, but the ‘green halo’ that came with it. The study’s authors found some owners were willing to pay a premium for it against other cars that offered a similar environmental impact.

With China now home to the second highest number of billionaires in the world and Singapore tying with Hong Kong and Paris as the most expensive city in the world, those with money are not afraid to show it.

Australian National University marketing lecturer Dr Andrew Hughes says the development of conspicuous capitalism and consumerism as a symbol of wealth is a recent trend.

“I think it’s taken off across the world in a way,” he tells Dateline. “There’s an area of marketing emerging called consumer culture theory. And part of it came out of the ‘70s and ‘80s all the way back in time where people were saying we should be against wealth and wealth creation and owning possessions worth a lot of money.

“Now it’s been flipped around to also be about owning possessions which are symbols of status and wealth.”

While those from Asian countries have climbed up the world’s rich lists, the rise of social media has helped propagate the idea of overt displays of wealth.

In 2018, social media trends like the ‘Falling Stars Challenge’ took off where people shared photos falling out of their luxury vehicles and spilling their possessions on the ground.

“It’s a market that has changed because of social media. It’s made the cultural aspect of sharing wealth more acceptable in a social sense,” Hughes adds. “Years ago showing off your wealth was seen as a bad thing. It was rubbing the faces of people who weren’t wealthy in it. Now it’s okay to share it on social media.”

Locally, a cultural movement in recent years has seen Australians move away from chasing wealth in cities in search of a simpler life.

“We have that anti-consumption culture (in Australia),” Hughes adds. “The seachange movement where people want to move away from the city and go to a nice location and live a slower lifestyle with less trappings in wealth. What we’re seeing in the Asian region is the opposite. Where people might go ‘I want to have the trappings of wealth, because I’ve done it really hard’.”