It is no coincidence that one of the favoured gathering spots of France’s “gilets jaunes” protesters is the Champs-Élysées – after all, it’s where the icons of globalised luxury are on display, and with them, the ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots in our society, write Jean-Noel Kapferer and Anne Michaut. Today, luxury is both a market and a major social phenomenon. As such, the players within it need to be aware that the meaning of the word luxury has escaped their grasp and begun to take on a negative social connotation, raising questions over its very use.
To sell luxury, should it still be called luxury?
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