[rapnie]

Or the Nilfisk consumer vacuum cleaners. They used to be frequently seen in Dutch households, nowadays less so. Indestructable.

My first confrontation with a 'Dyson Airblade Wash+Dry short hand dryer' was after paying 50ct to enter a newly modernised toilet on a Dutch railway station. I got totally splashed with water blown out of the sink, all over my clothes. Quite embarrassing to walk out a toilet like that.

[GuinansEyebrows]

Culturally, the Dutch expect higher quality at reasonable prices (love to see frugality as part of a national identity!). On the whole, American ad culture has us convinced that we must either suffer with worse tools or spend more on a name brand with increasingly diminishing returns… to say nothing of the conspicuous consumption we’re all nudged/shoved into.

[WrongAssumption]

Not sure how America got caught in this crossfire. Dyson is not an American company.

[GuinansEyebrows]

no, but companies like Dyson that promote conspicuous consumption do very well in the US where they might not otherwise because of those cultural differences.