We reached out to the creator of 'Stupid Stuff Rich People Buy', Dane, to hear a bit more about the journey of the page and what it has been like seeing it grow. "My inspiration for the account came from seeing some of the crazy luxury items that are out there and really thinking about those costs," he told Bored Panda.
"$216 for a brick that has the Supreme logo? A million dollars for a toenail clipper with a bunch of diamonds on it?" Dane asked. "It's insane for me to even conceptualize these things. I realized other people may also enjoy/hate seeing the insane things that the ultra-wealthy spend their money on."
Although the social media project started only in July 2022, it has been steadily growing ever since. At the time of writing, the 'Stupid Stuff Rich People Buy' has amassed over 10k followers eagerly waiting for new and completely absurd artifacts to grace their feeds.
"My community is sort of all over the place," Dane added. "A running joke among my followers is commenting 'chump change for a guy like me' under my posts. One of my friends started it, but it has since picked up, and a lot of the people who follow me say it now. It's especially funny when it's posted under some of the massively expensive items."
When asked whether Dane faces any difficulties with managing the account, he explained that the biggest challenge is when he happens to be wrong. "I'm not perfect, and sometimes if I don't know the intricacies of a certain community, I price things wrong."
"Recently I posted an in-game cosmetic for the game Counter-Strike and got called out by a massive Counter-Strike creator when I posted the wrong price for something."
"I had a lot of Counter-Strike fans in my mentions that were mad at me," he continued, "I made amends with them and posted a couple (accurately priced) items from the game, including a digital knife skin that's worth over 1.5 million USD."
We were also curious to know what makes Dane decide whether an image is worth sharing or not. "There are two big factors that go into deciding what to post — cost and utility. I've posted things that are relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things, $50 or so, but those things are often utterly useless or typically worth a dollar or less," the creator told us. "For example, a $55 single coffee pod or an $85 rock partially wrapped in leather."
"Otherwise, I just tend to post things that the average person would never even dream of buying like a $12,000 bathtub for small dogs. At the end of the day, I just ask myself the question: would a reasonable person making a normal amount of money even consider buying this?" Well, all it takes is a brief scroll through the feed to prove that most of us definitely wouldn't.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with being rich per se, as accumulating wealth is something many people strive for. But these objects designed for the crazy super-rich almost beg to be judged by the broader society.
Why do they drop major coins on these puzzling objects when there are heaps of cheaper alternatives that serve the same function? This question is bound to pop into your mind when you find it difficult to imagine their seemingly limitless wealth. Because for the ultra-rich, money is power, and wasting them on weird items is their idea of taking status symbols to a whole different level. A stupid one, but another level nevertheless.
It’s safe to say that when it comes to the draw of the page in question, the ridiculousness of it all is definitely part of the appeal. And clearly, devoted fans love witnessing and poking fun at how rich people flaunt their wealth through wasteful spending. No matter how non-materialistic we may be, it’s entertaining to witness these eyesores featured on the account.
Dane believes people enjoy seeing his content for a few different reasons. "One of them is to see how 'the other half' lives. So much of the stuff I've posted I've never even thought of before. Why would someone even think to make a designer brand paper clip? Why would you make a yacht out of platinum?"
