Are Celebrity Brands even worth it?
Would you buy this nail polish?
Yes?
Great, that will be $80 in total.
This is Harry Styles, a popular British singer’s brand, Pleasing that sells a variety of beauty products. It was released in 2021 and its nail polish sold out very quickly. Now, was it because of its astronomical quality. Nope. I recently watched a video by the youtuber, Simply Nailogical where she reviewed the brand and it turned out to be about the same level as any other nail polish you would buy at the drugstore.
The only difference, a 50% percent markup.
Now, this is not the first time celebrity brands have overcharged for poor or average quality products. We all remember Kylie Jenner’s makeup brush fiasco from 2016. And again Kylie Jenner with ‘Kylie Swims’ that ended up being both see-through and so little fabric that you could not even use it for its intended purposes.
You may be wondering, what is the problem with all this? Celebrities are allowed to put out as many poor products as they want, it is their own choice.
Yes… But.
Most consumers, especially those who are fans of the celebrity, tend to hold them and their business endeavours to a significantly lower standard than we would to small businesses struggling to grow while still paying higher prices for the poorer quality version just because it has the celebrity’s name attached to it.
It is a phenomenon that you can see a lot on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, customers in the comments section are quick to call out small businesses if they feel that they have been done dirty but reluctant to do the same to designer or celebrity based products. Most likely, out of loyalty as a fan or for fear of backlash.
Celebrities are in fact at a great advantage, money is no problem for them and the cost of producing these goods will probably be much lower for them, given all the resources they have at their disposal. Small businesses have to worry about startup costs, marketing and a bunch of other factors that leak into their savings.
Therefore, celebrities have absolutely no right to continue explaining away their poor quality products with flimsy, self- righteous excuses on costs, production teams and whatever else they can pin it on. Whilst they continue marking up their prices in an attempt to make them look elite.
Now, I am not saying that all designer brands are bad. They are a few, in fact, that are known especially for their amazing quality and value. Take Rare or Fenty beauty for example.
But, knowing what we do, about most ‘expensive’ brands, why do we continue to buy them?
This phenomenon is known as conspicuous consumption and is defined by the purposeful buying of luxury goods and services to display wealth and grandeur. Which is why you see so many wealthy people with lines of sports cars they do not use.
It was first articulated by Thorstein Veblen, a sociologist, to describe how the super wealthy would buy designer/ expensive items to publicly elevate their social status. The same way, one would buy a miniature designer purse, not because anything can fit inside or it is especially aesthetically pleasing, but by doing so they are making a public display of their social status as someone richer.
You may be wondering, who exactly chooses which objects have a certain value, is it the wealthy? Well, sociologists have argued that it is in fact those with cultural capital. And that encompasses both influencers and celebrities. More and more designer brands have started sponsoring influencers or collaborating with celebrities on certain products because they recognise the power that those with cultural capital have over the decisions on whether to buy something or not by regular consumers like you and me.
At the end of the day, I am not telling you not to buy designer or celebrity brands. If you enjoy their products and have the funds, by all means go ahead. Just remember to buy for quality and not branding.
But what do you think?