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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

>” Would consumers spend less money? No...”

I’m not sure about that. A lot of advertising is about appearances and superficial things. Example. Do we need cars in the US to get from place to place (NYC, etc excepted) Yes! Does it have to have bells and whistles? No. Can an entry level car do the job in the great majority of cases? Does it have to be a “luxury” brand? Or an upscale model?

Spending would go down. Good, bad? That’s another discussion.

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Given how many people seem to find themselves with crippling debt, or unable to save enough of a buffer to handle unexpected (but not especially unusual) expenses, I'd be inclined to say "good".

Much of the advertising industry isn't about getting you to choose Company A's product rather than Company B's, or to choose the deluxe version rather than the entry-level one; it's about getting you to buy things you would never even have considered otherwise, and certainly have no "need" for.

I think there is the question of what people would do with the money they save by buying only the entry-level car. Would everyone really just save the money? I expect people would just spend it on something else (that maybe has more effective advertising, even if via word-of-mouth or something else). So spending would remain roughly the same. I don't have any hard research I can personally point to though.

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