Super Contrast Consumption City

Everyone, do you know the origin of the name Singapore, where I am stationed? It comes from the Sanskrit phrase meaning "Lion City." Legend has it that the discoverer of this island once saw an animal resembling a lion, but today it's teeming with lions hungry for "consumption." This time, I'll introduce the "super-dynamic consumption" of these lions.

One day, I went to a nearby hawker center with a Singaporean colleague (hawker centers are massive food courts found all over the island, sometimes housing over 100 stalls. They're the people's canteens, offering everything from local, Chinese, Indian, and Malay to Japanese cuisine).

There, a popular lunch with long lines costs just $3 (all prices in USD). But the familiar Starbucks latte we had afterward? $6. Double the lunch price! This advertising elite, after eating a $3 lunch, spends twice as much at Starbucks. He lives with his parents in government-provided affordable apartments while driving a $90,000 Vios (a Toyota compact car). Those earning a bit more drive $150,000 Audis. Exorbitant license plate fees, plus tariffs imposed to strictly limit car ownership, drive prices to unimaginable heights. Prices in this country are no different from other developed nations. Yet few ordinary Japanese businesspeople get by on $3 lunches daily, and few spend $90,000 on a car. Despite cars being far less necessary here than in Japan, everyone on this small island nation wants one.

One Sunday afternoon, I saw a family of three sharing a $15 chicken rice meal while carrying bags worth over $20,000 total. What does this signify?

It might be dismissed as nouveau riche taste or materialism, but I see it differently. Even if the price seems exorbitant, people will spend money on things they absolutely want. In their minds, there's a clear distinction between things they settle for ("meri") and things they splurge on ("hari"). In markets with extreme pricing, this tendency becomes even more pronounced.

Starbucks, cars, and other consumer goods satisfy a fundamental desire to spend that transcends logical thinking. This kind of "super-contrast consumption" has already spread to surrounding ASEAN countries. When considering emerging markets, studying this inherent tendency toward contrast consumption within the human psyche could be a valuable insight.

Now, let's go discover a new contrast in today's lunch.

(Supervised by: Dentsu Inc. Aegis Network Business Bureau)