Tl;dr: Payless Shoes, a discount shoe retailer, opened a fake high-end store under the Palessi name and got fashion influencers to gush about how great the shoes were. People who actually bought such Palessi shoes probably were happier with them than if they’d bought them at Payless.
Years ago, a luxury car company (I believe it was Mercedes) did a study measuring demand with the same car across a relatively wide range of prices. Contrary to economic models that assume rational actors, there was a point where lowering price further made demand go down. People apparently assumed the higher price tag on a car made it more attractive as a consumer.
Probably why Mercedes does not bring their lower-end or lower-optioned car models to North America. They want to maintain their image as a luxury marque so they can command premium prices that their customers are happy to pay.
People are not rational consumers.
See the Palessi story from a few years ago: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/payless-sold-discount-shoes...
Tl;dr: Payless Shoes, a discount shoe retailer, opened a fake high-end store under the Palessi name and got fashion influencers to gush about how great the shoes were. People who actually bought such Palessi shoes probably were happier with them than if they’d bought them at Payless.