most people have never tasted true truffle or crab

@orenmeetsworld

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Why it worked

The video uses a high-contrast, fast-paced editing style combined with a provocative, contrarian thesis that challenges the viewer's perception of luxury, which encourages high engagement and shares.

Summary

The creator explains how the luxury industry uses 'simulacra'—cheap, synthetic substitutes for high-end goods like truffle, leather, cashmere, and vanilla—to exploit consumers. He argues that these substitutions are marketed as premium to satisfy mass-market demand, while the actual quality of the products is often significantly lower than perceived.

Structure

1Introduction to the concept of synthetic luxuries
2Examples of food and material substitutions
3Explanation of why these substitutions occur
4Critique of how the luxury industry manipulates perception
5Conclusion on the nature of consumerism

On-screen text

Synthetic Luxuries most people have never tasted wasabi, truffle have never touched the luxury industry uneducated to fight back in a prior video Synthetic Luxury On Earth have dining truffle oil the simulacrum be the real thing the truffle you're ordering from Paris to New York proverbial tip of the shroom genuine leather is it's the legally permissible floor often bonded scraps pressed together with polyurethane and fake grain goes full grain top grain then genuine the label brands use when there are no it can and can't be some of it is technically leather the way the hot dog is technically meat then the green paste that hits you in the back of the nose at every sushi restaurant horseradish mustard powder green food dye wasabi japonica which grows in cold mountain streams in Japan costs around $100 a pound and oxidizes within 15 minutes of being grated almost no restaurant outside of Japan serves it the simulacrum didn't just become acceptable it is the reference point no one you know has ever had the real thing for the softboys and Row girls a $90 h&m sweater and a two thousand dollar Loro Piana sweater can carry the exact same label 100% cashmere and both are ripping you off the difference is fiber micron diameter the type of hair from the type of goat origin region and how the yarn is spun none of which are regulated on the tag or ever in the ecommerce description Woolmark certification is a start but you need to learn to feel cashmere is not a garment to buy online onto your latte less than 1% of the vanilla flavoring in the world comes from vanilla beans the rest is synthesized not even in a sci-fi way just petrochemicals paper mill byproduct or coal tar babe, a vanilla creme brulee latte is good have you considered an Americano black imitation crab says imitation the through line here is scam every single one of these substitutions happens because the original couldn't be reproduced quickly enough cheaply enough or at a high enough volume to feed a global market that wants to feel like it's getting something premium and the industry's response was never to tell you it was to build a narrative around the substitute until the substitute became the real thing perception is a tool of the elite to exploit the striver class you're not consuming products, you're consuming stories about products the question is whether you want to know which ones are fiction

Original caption

We’re being sold the mid version of everything special and told it’s a luxury - synthetic luxury part 3

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Transcript

most people have never tasted true truffle or crab, have never touched true cashmere. The luxury industry is uneducated and we need to fight back. In a prior video I talked about the New York dining truffle oil phenomena and the idea of the simulacrum. When the copy of something becomes so prevalent, we consider it to be the real thing. The truffle you're ordering from Paris to New York is rarely what you think it is. But that's just the proverbial tip of the shroom. The more you look into this, the more uncomfortable it gets. Genuine leather is a warning. It's the legally permissible floor, often bonded scraps pressed together with polyurethane and embossed with fake grain. The hierarchy goes full grain, top grain, then genuine, which is essentially the label brands use when there are no standards for what it can and can't be. Some of it is technically leather the way the hot dog is technically meat. Then the green paste that hits you in the back of the nose at every sushi restaurant, horseradish, mustard powder, green food dye, certainly not wasabi japonica, which grows in cold mountain streams in Japan, costs around $100 a pound and oxidizes within 15 minutes of being grated. Almost no restaurant outside of Japan serves it. The simulacrum didn't just become acceptable, it is the reference point. No one you know has ever had the real thing. For the softboys and Row girls, a $90 H&M sweater and a $2,000 Loro Piana sweater can carry the exact same label, 100% cashmere, and both are ripping you off. The difference is fiber micron diameter, the type of hair from the type of goat, origin region, and how the yarn is spun, none of which are regulated on the tag or ever in the ecommerce description. Woolmark certification is a start, but you need to learn to feel. Cashmere is not a garment to buy online. Onto your latte. Less than 1% of the vanilla flavoring in the world comes from vanilla beans. The rest is synthesized, not even in a sci-fi way, just petrochemicals, paper mill byproduct or coal tar. Babe, a vanilla creme brulee latte is good, have you considered an Americano black? At least imitation crab says imitation. The through line here is scam. Every single one of these substitutions happens because the original couldn't be reproduced quickly enough, cheaply enough, or at a high enough volume to feed a global market that wants to feel like it's getting something premium. And the industry's response was never to tell you, it was to build a narrative around the substitute until the substitute became the real thing. Perception is a tool of the elite to exploit the striver class. You're not consuming products, you're consuming stories about products. The question is whether you want to know which ones are fiction.