Listening: Why Pay $5,000 for a Handbag?

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B2 | Listening from video | 11 min

Why Pay $5,000 for a Handbag?

Watch the whole video. You can watch more than once. Then answer the questions below. (5:04)

Choose the best answer.

1. What is the main idea of the video?

____ Wealthy people buy luxury handbags mostly because they have money to waste.____ People pay for more than quality: expectations, status and exclusivity also matter.____ Luxury handbags cost far more mainly because they are made with much better materials.

2. What happened in the wine experiment?

____ People enjoyed the same wine more when they were led to believe it was pricier.____ People preferred the cheaper wine once the researchers told them the real prices.____ People tasted no difference between the wines, whatever price they were shown.

3. What is "status signaling"?

____ Advertising a product as rare so that more people will want to buy it.____ Hiding a brand name so that nobody can tell what you have bought or owned.____ Showing others who we are, or who we want to seem, through what we own.

4. What does the video say about the price of luxury products?

____ It mostly pays for the materials and the work needed to make the product.____ It shows that the product is always of better quality than cheaper ones.____ It is mainly set by how few people in the world can afford it.____ It can reflect brand reputation and symbolic meaning, not just materials and labor.

True, False or Not Given? Choose Not Given if the video does not say.

5. A study found that every buyer of luxury goods wanted a highly visible logo.

____ True____ False____ Not Given

6. People who buy rare handbags often sell them later for a higher price.

____ True____ False____ Not Given

7. Some luxury products have real value because of how they are made.

____ True____ False____ Not Given

Complete each sentence with the words you hear.

A NUMBER from the video.

8. In the wine experiment, scientists scanned the brains of ____ people while they tasted.

ONE WORD from the video.

9. When a product is available only in small numbers or is hard to find, we talk about its ____.

ONE WORD from the video.

10. Just because a company calls a bag a ____ edition does not automatically make it more desirable.

Why Pay $5,000 for a Handbag?

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