Brand name products

Do you know what `Reebok', `Puma', `Nike' and `Timberland' are ? Do you have anything with such a brand name? Most Hong Kong citizens have these expensive brand-name clothes or fashion accessories. This is true for both students and adults. However, why is it that most people think very highly of these expensive products and spend a lot of  money on buying them? No one will deny that these products are made of high quality materials; however, are they really worth paying a high price for?

Hong Kong citizens think highly of expensive products because they want to be of equal or higher ranks than others. Hong Kong is a materialistic city. Most people think money is of high value. They think that being a rich man is better than being a poor one. Most of them like a rich man and despise a poor one. Thus, people will buy expensive products to indicate they are rich. Once they appear to be rich, they will be liked or loved by others. Besides, if people  find that their friends as well as their classmates have some brand-names clothes or fashion accessories and he doesn't have, he will think that he is of a lower rank than others are. Therefore, in order to raise his/her status, he/she will buy the expensive brand-name products and follow the trend.

In fact, it is a bad trend for students to follow. To follow this trend, a student needs a lot of money.

In Hong Kong, most students do not have any earning power. They only get pocket money from their parents. To buy the expensive fashion accessories, they need a large sum of money. They need more than one thousand dollars to buy a pair of `Reeboks'. If students really buy the pair of `Reeboks', they must ask their parents for money. This will directly increase the burden on  their parents. Moreover, a fashion lasts for only a short period. When a fashion lapses, students usually will not use `the out fashioned' products. We find few students wearing `Adidas' which once was a popular sports wear in Hong Kong. Is it really a waste of money?

Furthermore, some students take a part-time job to earn money instead of asking for money from their parents. This will definitely adversely affect their academic results. Since they are very tired after finishing their part-time job, they cannot concentrate on studying their texts and tests. Being too tired over a long period will adversely affect their health too. Some stupid students who get involved in  illegal  activities will ruin their future!

All in all, to develop a better character, we should not follow the trend to `chase' after  the expensive brand-name products. These are the targets we can never  reach! It is not shameful for us not to have  one of them!!