# What are some products that make a huge chunk of their sales due to peer pressure? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818 "2011-07-04T16:24:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/81 "2011-07-11T05:43:52Z")
Rap. ---
**Author:** ![uuaschbaer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@uuaschbaer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uuaschbaer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/82 "2011-07-11T12:06:15Z")
Puma shoes, cars in general, the Bible … Oh yes: spa treatments. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/83 "2011-07-11T16:55:05Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Bud. This innocuous-tasting lawnmower lubricant has somehow become a marker for patriotic working-class masculinity. God yes. It’s very bland, pretty much the least-common-denominator of beers. And yet it has the reputation as the King of Beers, and you pay a premium for it compared to, say, Labatts or Coors. As for soft drinks, I’ll conceed that there might be good store brand drinks out there, but most are noticably inferior to Coke or Pepsi. It’s most obvious with colas. I have never tasted a store brand cola (and I’ve tried dozens) that I’d care to drink again. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/84 "2011-07-11T17:22:39Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > And yet it has the reputation as the King of Beers, and you pay a premium for it compared to, say, Labatts or Coors. Budweiser’s slogan is the “King of Beers” but with the growth of microbreweries recently I doubt that anyone buys that line. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/85 "2011-07-11T17:29:20Z")
I’ll go with makeup and go so far as to say that it’s ALL peer pressure related. Cheap brands, expensive brands, all of it. Do women really wear makeup to look good for THEMSELVES? Nope, they wear it to look good for other people. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/86 "2011-07-11T21:55:02Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > As someone recently in the real estate market, may I add granite countertops and stainless steel appliances? These things are gonna be the stylistic equivalent of Harvest Gold appliances and snag carpeting in a few years. Yep. These people don’t know that nowadays the only thing cheaper than granite these days is laminate, aka plastic counters. I’d say POM Wonderful juice. Pricey bottle for the advertising and the funky container. Burt’s Bees. Not many know it’s owned by Clorox now. Paul Mitchell hair products, especially their Tea Tree line (and I say this as an occasional buyer, too!) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/87 "2011-07-12T03:38:01Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > God yes. It’s very bland, pretty much the least-common-denominator of beers. And yet it has the reputation as the King of Beers, and you pay a premium for it compared to, say, Labatts or Coors. In Michigan I usually find that I pay more for Labatt than the price I see for Budweiser. Of course in Michigan Labatt is imported, and if you’re in Canada then Bud would (probably) be imported (if not licensed locally for brewing, I guess). (FWIW I don’t know that you’re in Canada.) ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/88 "2011-07-12T04:43:02Z")
It’s worth mentioning that a lot of products are better in part _because_ everyone has them. This is especially true with electronics, which might require software, firmware updates, accessories, etc. I owned two mp3 players before I had an iPod. They were both great products, but you were almost out of luck if you wanted a sport case or a charging cable, and both were associated with audio software that is long since forgotten. The biggest offender here, as others have mentioned, is the diamond engagement ring. **CrazyCatLady** didn’t want one and I really didn’t want to buy one (though I would have if she had wanted one), but I still have this occasional irrational nagging feeling that I should have anyway. More than one person has told me that no matter what she said she wanted, I still should have spent several thousand dollars on a rock she didn’t especially like. They’ve been pretty explicit about this. I remember an ad campaign helpfully explaining the asinine two months’ salary rule that said something like, “Spend more and she’ll be dazzled. Spend less and her family will talk.” Crap like that that makes me want to boycott the whole industry before you even get to the whole blood diamond thing. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/89 "2011-07-12T05:12:58Z")
Rolex watches are kind of entry-level uber expensive cool baubles and a statement that you have arrived. Or, in my case, that some older person on my family who believed this is now dead, and I ended up with the watch. And I understand that once you been “there” for a while, Rolex is no longer good enough and there are even pricier time keeping status symbols to wave in front of the losers. ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818/90 "2011-07-12T06:16:04Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Rolex watches are kind of entry-level uber expensive cool baubles and a statement that you have arrived. Or, in my case, that some older person on my family who believed this is now dead, and I ended up with the watch. > > And I understand that once you been “there” for a while, Rolex is no longer good enough and there are even pricier time keeping status symbols to wave in front of the losers. This reminds me of designer purses. I see a lot of people who like to pretend their rich with Coach and Louis Vuitton. Where as really rich people have a good number of Chanels or a Birkin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-products-that-make-a-huge-chunk-of-their-sales-due-to-peer-pressure/587818.md?page=4)