Marta Zeimule

Bandwagon effect and snob effect

Bandwagon effect

In all times a society has been influenced by different kind of beliefs, opinions, actions and trends.

The pressure of society is hard to evaluate precisely. Actually it is huge and we could avoid it probably

only living in a dark forest. Nowadays because of the development of social networks, technologies it

is even easier to control the society by creating different kind of trends. The great example is politics.

But the trends we can find in every sphere of our lives and usually we are the ones who create them or

at least follow.

Bandwagon effect we can define in a lot of ways. I will mention some of the most popular

definitions. It can mean to follow the group as it has the majority or a vast number of followers. Or

when one only likes or agrees with someone/something due to success. Even if said individual

liked/agreed with something before they were successful, they "hopped on the bandwagon." In a short:

the bandwagon effect is seen in cases where individuals are trying to "fit in".

To better understand the meaning of the bandwagon effect I could mention few examples. You see

on a television that everyone is buying some brand’s watch. It is the new thing, like a trend. So you

"jump on the bandwagon" like everyone else and go out and buy this watch. 

Advertisers use this a lot in their advertising. A bandwagon propaganda is saying that everyone is

doing it, and so should you. Also a good example is this commercial: "Million of women are using the

new Mineral make-up foundation".

In microeconomics, bandwagon effect describes interactions of demand and preference. The

bandwagon effect arises when people's preference for a commodity increases as the number of people

buying it increases. This interaction potentially disturbs the normal results of the theory of supply and

demand, which assumes that consumers make buying decisions solely based on price and their own

personal preference.

There are a lot of arguments about the bandwagon’s effect positive or negative impact on society.

In my opinion it depends on circumstances. I suppose if a person does not become too obsessed with

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trends, if it does not affect a person’s life in a negative way, it is not a bad thing at all. Usually

following trends makes people feel better. For example, buying the brand new Apple Iphone. That is

more or less like a hobby, like a new toy to a person that makes his everyday brighter. So why not? Or

to buy a new piece of clothing just because it is the ‘’hottest and latest’’ trend and all celebrities wear

it. But in other case it is important if it does not lead us to some bad conclusions, for example if a

person is borrowing money to get his new toy, it leaves a negative impact on his financial budget, so

then it could become a serious problem. It can be not only a material thing. For example, a person

believes some common group of people, who have created their beliefs about the world’s environment,

about pollution and so on. This ‘’live green life’’, ‘’stay healthy’’, ‘’buy and eat only natural

products’’ is a really popular trend nowadays. So the positive aspect could be that a person really tries

to make a life better and also the entire nature by cleaning the rubbish on the streets. But if a person

gets too obsessed with these ideas, he can become too stressed about these problems, starting to push

people around him to follow certain rules. He starts to spend a lot of money on ecological products,

furniture or follows some ridiculous diets and other ‘’healthy’’ procedures. If this all is too much, it

can lead a person to unemployment, depression and so on. So as I already said it all depends on the

strength of influence on a person’s life in general.

Snob effect

The snob effect is the demand for a good or service is abnormally high for higher income level

and very low for low income level. In other words, some people have a lot of money and are able to

buy whatever they want, so they buy things your average person would not even consider because it is

ridiculous and completely pointless or just because it is expensive. Expensive art, luxury cars, or a

vacation in Dubai.

The snob effect is seen when an individual's demand is decreased due to the assumption or

knowledge that others are consuming the good. Therefore, the individual consumer's demand is

negatively correlated with the market demand. One way to think about this can be to say it is the

"opposite" of the bandwagon effect. For example, if you notice that many people are driving

"Volkswagen" cars, due to the snob effect, your desire (demand) to drive that car will decrease.

Therefore, you will likely drive a "Lexus" car, in order to be exclusive or unlike the crowd.

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I suppose everyone can name at least one pure snob. It is a person who wants, desires, requests an

incredibly expensive, unique products or services. The harder is to get the desired thing, the higher is a

snob’s appreciation. Most of the times these products have a high material value but kind of low

practical value. Snobs are obsessed by showing their status to other people. In the real life we can see

two types of snob, which I have realized, one is the real snob, who actually without any problems can

afford all the extras and luxury, but the other type are people who pretend that they are capable of

having these extras. For example, a typical snob wants the latest technologies, inventions (better that

the product is a limited edition), they want beautiful, shiny cars. And it is always about how it looks…

we could even say that the pack and brand of the product is more important than what is inside the box

and how you actually could use it in your daily life. It is all about showing off what you can. Also a

typical snob always needs a special service, like an entrance in the event or the club only through VIP.

Because they are not average persons, they are special! Anyway I believe that there is at least a tiny

snob inside of everyone. We all can have our weaknesses. And the feeling to have something that you

have desired for a long time, why not to have this pleasure? The problems could start if it comes too

much. If the only thing a snob cares about is another new extra, not the family and friends around him,

who truly are supposed to have the highest value in a person’s life.

Consumer behavior and consumer demand as it relates to sociology, welfare economics, and pure

theory. One thing that must be pointed out here is that individuals are still bound by the income

constraint. These theories describe consumer’s demand and behavior, but in some cases the price

constraints will limit the consumer's choices. In conclusion, next time you see people running to the

mall to buy the latest fashion, or going out of their way to get the most exclusive product that no one

else has, or overspending to get a "cool" name brand product, you will know the causes of these

behaviors: the bandwagon effect and the snob effect.

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