Most significantly the logo itself growing in size, ballooning from a three quarter inch emblem into a chest-sized marquee." From the perspective of social stratification and social stratification through branding, today, our main motivation to consume is our desire to be similar to some people and different from others. Consumerism stands rudimentary to social stratification, or vice versus. According to Miller (2013), "Social stratification may be defined as long-standing power, wealth, and status between groups within a single society. These groups are typically separated into classes or castes, but may also extend to ethnic separation." Miller (2013) contends that "placement into a social hierarchy is dependent on an individual's access to valued resources: stratification is a system where groups are treated differently based on their societal roles or social status." Members of society can align with various social status groups or separate themselves from others simply by making certain consumer purchases.

It is not always the affluent vs. The poor paradigm in examining consumer branding and social stratification. Sometimes consumerism relates to branding and choice. For example, two brands of shoes might have the same purchasing price. However, individuals may actually buy certain shoes to demonstrate that they prefer to be associated with a certain social group rather than another. Nevertheless, social stratification becomes more prominent in scenarios where certain goods and services are only attainable by individuals with more financial wealth.

Ironically, some individuals will try to socially stratify themselves into a class in which by consumer purchases that exceeds their means of living. In order to appear more like the rich and less like the poor,...

For example, to appear more wealthy, some individuals will purchase a luxury car which highly strains their budget. While these individuals have a fancy, luxury car to drive, when seen in public, they might live in extremely low economic housing, have no appreciating assets, possibly have poor health insurance coverage, have no savings, possess a disproportionate debt to income ratio, and struggle with paying for living essentials. or, the same individuals may prefer to struggle with purchasing gas to drive the vehicle, just in order to declare they own the vehicle and can be visibly seen driving the vehicle on occasion. Likewise, others perpetuating the same consumer cycle, would prefer to purchase a used luxury car, evoking a high level of status, with an unstable engine than purchase an economy car with a stable engine. The economy car with the stable engine would could serve the purpose of reliable transportation, while the luxury car with the unstable engine might help with temporarily distinguishing a person as a more affluent consumer than an individual with an economy car.