NYU ITP: If Products Could Tell Their Stories Class 2
February 2, 2009
The consumer’s role:
On need vs. want in the American psyche:
35% of Americans surveyed aspired to reach the top 6% of the income distribution, and another 49% aspired to the next 12%.
Only 15% reported that they would be satisfied with “living a comfortable life” – that is, being middle class.
But 85% of the population cannot earth the six-figure incomes necessary to support upper-middle-class lifestyles.
The result is a growing aspirational gap: with desires persistently outrunning incomes, many consumers find themselves frustrated.
-Susan Fournier and Michael Guiry, University of Florida, 1991.
This, and more, and recent recalls here: