To society, wealth equals success. If you wear all the high end brands, own a nice car and live in a huge house, everyone looks at you as someone who has it all. In episode 3 of “Ways of Seeing” with John Berger, he talks about the exhibition of wealth in European oil paintings. The high class were painted while surrounded by all their possessions to display and show off their wealth. Materialistic things were what proved your social status.

Today, instead of paintings we use photographs and post them to social media outlets. Social media has brought materialism to a different level. It has raised the bar and now everyone craves to live up to these extravagant life styles. Even people who don’t have the money to support these things will go out of their way, emptying their bank accounts just to seem wealthy.

The photograph below shows Jeffree Star, a beauty influencer, in front of his expensive car, wearing expensive clothing. It’s similar to the oil paintings because the sole purpose of this picture was to show off his merchandise. The only difference is the more modern aspects such as the car and designer clothing. Back then they wore fur and would use food or jewels to stand around.

I’ve attached a video of a YouTuber who’s showing her fake designer items. This video shows how desperate people are to fit in and feel accepted through the items they own. People will spend money on fake things as long as they have the label.

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