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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.



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.


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


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.




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