【厦门韦博英语】流行新词:口红效应 lipstick effect

在美国，每当经济不景气的时候，口红的销量就会明显上升。这是为什么呢？原来，在经济不景气的情况下，人们仍然会有强烈的消费欲望，但是实际经济能力又无法承担珠宝首饰、衣服等高价消费品，于是人们便会转而购买相对比较廉价的商品。口红作为一种“廉价的非必要之物”成为女性消费者的首选商品，于是就有了一个有趣的经济现象lipstick effect，即“口红效应”。

The lipstick effect is the theory that when facing an economic crisis consumers will be morewilling to buy less costly luxury goods. Instead of buying expensive fur coats, women will buy expensive lipstick.

The underlying assumption is that consumers will buy luxury goods even if there is a crisis. When consumer trust in the economy is dwindling, consumers will buy goods that have lessimpact on their available funds. Obviously men will not be buying lipstick, but could be tempted by expensive beer or smaller, less costly gadgets.