When you walk along a crowded street, you may well see people wearing expensive clothes and carrying brand name bags. Even in schools, there is no lack of students using brand name bags, wallets, pencil bags, sports shoes, glasses, hair bands, earrings and the like. This worrying phenomenon unveils the lack of self-esteem of Hong Kong people.
People with low self-esteem usually have a significant sense of inferiority, thinking that they are not as good as other people. Brand name products become their source of self-confidence. For adults, wealth is a measurement of their success in career. Since only those ‘successful’ people can earn a great deal of money for brand name products, adults buy these products to raise and show their status. As for students, they may not intend to show off, but to make themselves more comparable to their peers in order to get along well with their schoolmates.
Although the lack of self-esteem can account for the trend that people pursue brand name products, the fundamental cause of this is materialism. If people do not see money and material things so important, they will not regard these things as a source of self-confidence. However, the stark fact is that adults look down on people with lower status and less wealth while students tend not to make friends with those who are less trendy because of the inability to buy new and expensive products frequently.
Such an attitude has already been deeply rooted in Hong Kong people’s mind. Because most adults have their earning ability to support their purchase, the problem is worth less concern. But for students, especially those from poorer family, this trend is very worrying.
Buying brand name products requires a lot of money. Where comes the money for the jobless students? Some may be able to ask their parents for money. But for those from less rich families, it may not be possible. As a result, they need to find other sources of money. Some of them would sacrifice their lunch to save up that amount from their lunch money. However, this has a lot of bad effects on students’ health. Some would do part-time jobs to get extra money. In some extreme cases, they commit crimes for quick money. For example, they steal money from their families or classmates, help traffic in drugs or sell pirated DVDs, or even work as a prostitute in the worst cases. These are, need no explanation, detrimental to the students.
Even if the poorer students have a saving plan and are able to save up enough money for a desired product, the problem still exits. Pursuit of brand name products never ends. New products are continuously designed and sold on the market every month. After a certain amount of money is saved for a bag, a new saving plan has to start immediately for a pair of shoes. They will soon discover that, unlike the rich, their wants can never be met. Eventually, their sense of inferiority grows stronger and stronger.
All in all, it is an unhealthy sign for Hong Kong people to think highly of expensive brand name products. And in fact, it is especially worrying to see students doing so. People should develop a healthy self-image and stop basing their self-worth on brand name products.