Adam if you had billions of dollars $14,500 would be a drop in the bucket. I agree it’s completely ostentatious, but that’s why someone spends that much money on dessert. Their reward is in knowing they can waste that much money and being able to let others know about. You might not and I might not either, but some people would do just that.

Kristine you’re worth way more than a $14,500 dessert and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you haven’t read it check out Seth Godin’s “All Marketers are Liars.” It’s about the stories we tell ourselves to justify our purchases and the stories marketers tell us to reinforce our world views. The more you look at it the more you realize people buy for so many reasons other than why they say they buy.

Laura I was wondering whether the dessert was really meant as something to sell or if it was really meant for the publicity the resort received from this or the associated image they’ll acquire. For all we know this resort isn’t anything special, but because of their dessert we’ll likely associate wealth and expense when staying there. They may never sell a single dessert, but they may have tripled what they can charge for a room.

And I’d pull that gold leaf and the 80 carat aquamarine stone off before ever taking a bite too.

I have a feeling that if it were me, I’d be picking off the gold leaf rather than eating it…

You do make a good point about people buying a product for more than the obvious reasons. I’ve seen many products that aren’t all that great sell because they became “hot products” or someone famous used them.

Interesting topic.