But this effect also exists elsewhere, not just with furniture.
I think that’s also what meant with his term "pausing," to avoid being taken over by a deliberately created trend and eventually perceiving it as one’s own opinion. How insidious opinion formation/influence works nowadays is currently being discussed in many layers.
However, to almost categorically exclude the topic of kitchen purchases from this, in my opinion, is at least an indication that the marketing machine has done an outstanding job here, namely when you no longer perceive the share of marketing. Why should these billion-dollar investments in such mechanisms not work exactly in the kitchen sector? Of course, they do as much as in other areas, whether we want to admit it or not!
Nevertheless, I absolutely understand if someone likes a great kitchen, just like a bed, sofa, lamp, tools, or garden furniture, etc.; to be honest, I don’t care, and I wouldn’t feel diminished by any of that just because I don’t have it. I would have had to have been depressed for years because of all the snappily dressed people, as the exaggerated topic of fashion has almost always passed me by unnoticed.
Regarding my beloved USM shelves, I do not feel personally addressed this time because I neither count as part of the better-off society here in the forum due to income nor have visitors who would be impressed by my furniture. But I understand that not everyone likes everything; we really like our current furnishing.
Unfortunately, nowadays it has become as you describe with the silly behavior through clothing, cars, etc. Ultimately, however, I would not want to pin that on a brand of furniture or car, but rather on the HOW or WHY of the person concerned. But one should also ask oneself why it stings if another person flaunts something like that.
Maybe it’s age-related, but I always find such things rather funny, also because it would be way too exhausting for me.
Such kinds of showing off to boost oneself a little (but everyone should first look for that in themselves) are not only shown through their USM shelves or jackets. It already begins with the silly boasting about one’s own children (an unfortunately widespread, downright foolish phenomenon), the casual mention of the job title, in the selection of the always very special barbecue goods up to the rare dog breed (tennis & golf were the thing before) ... simply everywhere; with children, it is the higher Lego tower.
Here too, it is always about the HOW and WHY, according to Gerhard Polt, typically German question words.
Nevertheless, I remain cautious about judging someone so much because of such things; my own experiences tell me that truly wealthy and at the same time educated people never brag, usually only those on the sidelines do. If, like me, you don’t even sit on the bench anymore, you don’t have to shuffle with your feet anymore... a liberating feeling!
Add to that the recent incident with the dumb soccer player Dembele, which shows that even as a dark-skinned person, one can be a vile racist. The packaging alone usually says little about the actual content here too!