Authentic Luxury Goods Are an Emotional Crutch

Our insistence that luxury goods be genuine is unrelated to how the product functions, say psychologists. We demand authenticity because of an emotional attachment to a brand: “There are certain things whose value depends largely on their legitimacy. While I might listen to bootleg music on my iPhone, I want the phone to be genuine. I want that Apple logo to be real. Why? Because the brand has effectively woven itself into my emotional brain.* Because when I see that logo, I don’t see a functional object. Instead, I’ve learned to respond to everything that isn’t functional, all those subtle connotations conveyed in the glossy ads. There are many blankets in the world. But there is only one blankie. The best brands are blankies.”