Why is Surplus Used to Help the Rich — Not the Poor?
Why is Surplus Used to Help the Rich — Not the Poor?
Only the richest of the rich can afford a $0/month budget.
For her senior project, art student Zou Yaqi wanted to highlight how much surplus the rich really have. To do this, she documented her attempt to spend three weeks traveling around Beijing sleeping on the couches of luxury hotels and enjoying complimentary hors d’oeuvres. All for free.
The sad truth is that businesses think giving rich people free things will make them more money. Why would a fashion designer invite her to a private exhibition and feed her caviar? They think she’ll buy a lot of product. Why does the hotel give her a free room in exchange for a picture? They assume she’ll rent 100 rooms to other people on social media. Why does no one kick her out of the VIP lounge? They assumed she paid for it with an overpriced ticket.
It’s all transactional to those people.