CNBCfix review: Wealth Effect
trumps penny-pinching in
shoe-stopping ‘Luxury Boom’

          Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2012

To think there are people still talking about The Great Recession.

Courtney Reagan, a CNBC up-and-comer given the helm of a prime-time offering, proves highly capable for the assignment of "Luxury Boom: The New Big Spenders," but ultimately like everything else in the program ends up as eye candy.

"Rich or not, no one is looking for bargains," Reagan says in the introduction, pointing to "insatiable appetite for high-end" evidenced largely by stock prices.

Such a thesis sounds like little more than a shopping guide for the 1% and Those Who Watched "Sex and the City," and that's what viewers get, as Reagan takes product placement (especially the shoes) to the max while shelving almost any in-depth analysis as to why so many people are purportedly buying this stuff.

"Luxury Boom" not surprisingly has the feel of weekend network syndicated programs on lifestyles and fashion. The cuts are quicker than Reagan's Ferrari, often accelerated by fast-motion photography. This is hyper-soundbite television, a frustrating derivative of CNBC's business-day programming which occasionally has its own troubles in permitting adequate commentary on interesting subjects. A major plus though is the catchy red/black graphics motif, albeit a little overdone with the slot machines.

Reagan is rarely shown speaking in the program, mostly employing narration, and doesn't actually receive as much visual airtime as many CNBC stars would, but she looks great zipping from outfit to outfit and one could infer, in this fairly rare half-hour prime-time format, there simply wasn't as much time to put the host on camera.

Certainly one might wonder, with credit reduced in this country since 2008, how there can be so many big spenders. The answer may lie in a broader focus than what Reagan delivers. It's not just Manolo Blahniks and Ferraris that are selling, but Starbucks, Polo Ralph Lauren, iPads, Lululemon, Chipotle. Stock performance says the upscale American buyer was barely deterred by 2008 and picked up where he/she left off. Not only that, but stocks of certain low-budget mainstays, including McDonald's, YUM brands and the dollar stores, have enjoyed years of strength. Whatever the causes of the Great Recession, "sacrifice" doesn't seem to be an effect.

Produced by Jamie Corsi and an early offering from former CNNer Scott Matthews, whom CNBC hired in 2011 to jazz up special programming, "Luxury Boom" likes its array of experts/pundits (many of them executives of the products profiled and one of them, Stacey Widlitz, a CNBC contributor) almost as much as its shoes, serving up multiple magazine-like poses of its photogenic cast who are nearly as good-looking as Reagan. The camera also likes cute shopper Brooke Diamond, who explains how she views shoes as an "investment" and thus worth, say, $695, on top of the $990 she pays for a unique vest.

Heavily pegged for a female audience, Reagan does give airtime to male interests, actually claiming men's luxury shopping is outgrowing women's, but there is little about cars, nothing about yachts, and nothing about country club memberships. (Nor, curiously, is there anything about plastic surgery, spas, upscale health practices.) Reagan provides an ample advertisement for Mr. Porter but utterly skips a fascinating topic — does "luxury boom" mean that suits and formal clothing are returning? Or are people just buying expensive casual duds?

Reagan only briefly looks abroad, spending a couple minutes at the end of the program pointing out Asian demand for luxury, which notably includes man-bags.

There's no commentary on what has to be a common problem for upscale shoppers: Can you really get value? Bill Gates once noted that having billions doesn't get you a better cheeseburger. The pundits in "Luxury Boom" fail to make the case that their products are essential. Psychologist April Lane Benson, who specializes in compulsive shopping, maybe says it best in opining that people buy because it "makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside."


"Luxury Boom: The New Big Spenders" (2012)
Featuring: Courtney Reagan, Stacey Widlitz, George Malkemus, Marco Mattiacci, Ed Jay, April Benson, Christian Louboutin, Greg Unis, James Fayed, Jeremy Langmead, Toby Bateman, Erika Serow, Brooke Diamond

Reported by: Courtney Reagan
Vice president, special projects: Scott Matthews
Director of specials: Ray Parisi
Producer: Jamie Corsi
Editor: Nick Stantzos
Associate Producer: Erica Emmich
Camera: Jerry Frasier, Alejandro Herrera, Gim Lay, Michael Luciano, Oscar Molina, Jason Zhou
Audio: David Foerder, David Schumacher
Additional producers: Julia Chatterley, Juliana Yeh
Manager and chief photographer: Angel Perez
Director of post production: Vito Tattoli
Edit supervisor: Gina Saudino
Senior managing art director: John Rehm
Motion graphic artist: Leslie Lilo
Media coordinator: Richard Marko
Music librarians: Salvatore Carosone, Lauren Ricci-Horn
Archive materials courtesy of: Christian Louboutin, Coach, Turnbull & Asser
Senior vice president of business news: Nikhil Deogun

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