Marketing luxury

If you ever wondered why champagne is associated with excess and high society, the Wikipedia article on champagne in pop culture is worth a read. Here's the short version: Champagne producers made a concerted effort starting in the 1800's (if not sooner) to market the sparkling wine as the favorite of kings, dukes, nobles, knights, etc. Then came a couple hundred years of celebrity endorsements and product placement in art, music, books, and movies. In 22 James Bond movies, he drinks champagne 35 times (as opposed to only 22 martinis).

Fast-forward to today, where the brand associations are reinforced as champagne is sprayed on race car winners, broken over the boughs of new boats and planes, and generally used for occasions worth celebrating. Cristal has been a mainstay in hip hop videos (though perhaps less so after the company was less than gracious to its rapper clientele).

This sort of marketing is out of the same playbook that De Beers and luxury car companies have used to weave their products (and the desired brand associations) into the fabric of society. I wonder if, with enough money and time, the same could be done for spam and tricyles.