Proper

Abstract

The polarization of consumption has led to the collapse of the middle class. According to a report released by Beverage Digest, a real-life beverage industry magazine, sales of soft drinks in the US are expected to decrease by 1% in 2011, 1.2% in 2012, and 3% in 2015. The share of private consumption as a percentage of GDP fell from 55.7% in 2003 to 50.6% in 2013. However, luxury goods consumption continues to increase despite this situation. This study looked at how the mating goal priming affected the luxury consumption. In Experiment 1, I examined how the mating goal priming changed the choices and perceptions of general and luxury products. Study showed that men are not much different in percentages of choice for luxury product, but women have lower rates of choice for luxury product. This result indicated that the guilt feeling when choosing a luxury product is larger for women than for men. In Experiment 2, I examined how the mating goal priming affected logo size change of luxury product. Results showed that women did not want to change the size of product logo if they were primed by mating goal, but men wanted to change the size of the logo. Especially, men wanted to change the logo size bigger when they were primed by mating goal.