Went to a car show
CL Community Team
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,915
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From: Alabama
Someone wondered why the slammed cars with giant wheels and extreme body kits are so popular these days.
Back in 1899 an economist named Thorstein Veblen published a book called "The Theory of the Leisure Class" in which among other ground breaking ideas, he invented a term called "Conspicuous Consumption". Conspicuous Consumption is a behavior that spends money on purchases (or services) purely to gain attention from others. The theory also details that if the items purchased for conspicuous consumption are mostly useless for any practical function then their value for conspicuous consumption is greatly enhanced because only the most rich and powerful can easily spend money on useless and/or impractical items.
Spending many thousands on huge wheels, ultra low profile tires that barely fit in the wheel well, and extreme body kits that make the car almost impossible to drive on regular streets is the ultimate in conspicuous consumption.
A great deal of everyday ordinary human behavior can be explained by these types of behavior.
and now back to our regular LS430 forum programming...
Back in 1899 an economist named Thorstein Veblen published a book called "The Theory of the Leisure Class" in which among other ground breaking ideas, he invented a term called "Conspicuous Consumption". Conspicuous Consumption is a behavior that spends money on purchases (or services) purely to gain attention from others. The theory also details that if the items purchased for conspicuous consumption are mostly useless for any practical function then their value for conspicuous consumption is greatly enhanced because only the most rich and powerful can easily spend money on useless and/or impractical items.
Spending many thousands on huge wheels, ultra low profile tires that barely fit in the wheel well, and extreme body kits that make the car almost impossible to drive on regular streets is the ultimate in conspicuous consumption.
A great deal of everyday ordinary human behavior can be explained by these types of behavior.
and now back to our regular LS430 forum programming...
Last edited by Jabberwock; Oct 25, 2016 at 08:56 PM.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 8,575
Likes: 391
From: PA
Someone wondered why the slammed cars with giant wheels and extreme body kits are so popular these days.
Back in 1899 an economist named Thorstein Veblen published a book called "The Theory of the Leisure Class" in which among other ground breaking ideas, he invented a term called "Conspicuous Consumption". Conspicuous Consumption is a behavior that spends money on purchases (or services) purely to gain attention from others. The theory also details that if the items purchased for conspicuous consumption are mostly useless for any practical function then their value for conspicuous consumption is greatly enhanced because only the most rich and powerful can easily spend money on useless and/or impractical items.
Spending many thousands on huge wheels, ultra low profile tires that barely fit in the wheel well, and extreme body kits that make the car almost impossible to drive on regular streets is the ultimate in conspicuous consumption.
A great deal of everyday ordinary human behavior can be explained by these types of behavior.
and now back to our regular LS430 forum programming...
Back in 1899 an economist named Thorstein Veblen published a book called "The Theory of the Leisure Class" in which among other ground breaking ideas, he invented a term called "Conspicuous Consumption". Conspicuous Consumption is a behavior that spends money on purchases (or services) purely to gain attention from others. The theory also details that if the items purchased for conspicuous consumption are mostly useless for any practical function then their value for conspicuous consumption is greatly enhanced because only the most rich and powerful can easily spend money on useless and/or impractical items.
Spending many thousands on huge wheels, ultra low profile tires that barely fit in the wheel well, and extreme body kits that make the car almost impossible to drive on regular streets is the ultimate in conspicuous consumption.
A great deal of everyday ordinary human behavior can be explained by these types of behavior.
and now back to our regular LS430 forum programming...
Who can say....I like to be inconspicuous, don't like attention. But personalities are different. I like factory 18's, and don't like factory 17's, and I don't like putting on my winter tires that are 17's. But why? Do I actually in fact care about strangers seeing me with 17's?! Maybe I do....
I was once given a 128i convertible loaner. Firstly, a 1 is diminutive imho. Next, a convertible? Very showy or girly or something that I don't like. I took it to a remote part of a Pathmark parking lot (this implies it was a long time ago they no longer exist), and I put the power top down. A woman drives by, and says, "Hey, beautiful car!" And I felt ashamed, seriously! Who can explain. I was in the LS430, and next to a MAN, younger, tough guy like, who was in a 128i with the top down, cranking very loud music. He wanted everyone to see him in what I consider a diminutive and girlish car.....we're all different...
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