B2 – Upper Intermediate
The super-rich are people who are absolutely not like you and me. To say the least, they can pretty much afford anything in this world, including luxury clothes.
However, most of them try to make themselves look like they are just like any of us by wearing outfits that seem so plain and ordinary, having houses and cars that seem basic, and living a lifestyle that seem simple and frugal.
Do you ever wonder why some of the top billionaires in the world appear in public looking so simple in their regular-looking outfits like basic t-shirts instead of donning Italian custom-made suits?
Watch the video that explains the concept of poverty peacocking.
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “folksy image” mean, “SBF and the rest of the gang were all frauds, but putting a lot of effort into crafting a folksy image is done by most prominent business leaders for three simple reasons.” Use this expression in your own sentence.
- What does “stealth wealth” mean? “Billionaires doing a Bloomberg or NAS Daily interviews featuring their basic car and geeky wardrobe is not the same thing as stealth wealth.” Use this phrase in a sentence.
- What does “grift” mean? “An important element of any grift like this is that people need to believe that someone has become wealthy and that they can do it too.” Use this word in a sentence.
Discussion Questions:
1. What are your thoughts on poverty peacocking?
2. Discuss each of the 3 reasons rich people try to look poor:
– It gets them what they want.
– It is an effective sales tactic.
– It helps them keep their workers in line.
3. Share your opinion on this, “Humble CEOs are the new fashion.”.
4. What are your thoughts on ‘Get Rich Quick Course’?
5. Talk about your insights on this, “Corporations became people, as people too, became corporations and every corporation needs a media relations department.”.
4 replies on “Billionaires Try Hard to Look Poor”
1. What are your thoughts on poverty peacocking?
I have no doubt that some people prefer to live in the same way that the rest of kindman but, in general, I think that Poverty Peacocking is a rich people excentricity because everybody loves living and enjoying the worl pleasures and normally this kind of things are expensive.
2. Discuss each of the 3 reasons rich people try to look poor:
– It gets them what they want.
I don’t think so. It is independent of it.
– It is an effective sales tactic.
I partially agree. Some buyers can be identify themselves with a rich person and buy his/her idea, but at the end people consume the product independetly of the owner.
– It helps them keep their workers in line.
I do not agree. Maybe in an starting point of one startup but at the end workers understand that the owner of a Company is not a workmate.
3. Share your opinion on this, “Humble CEOs are the new fashion.”.
I agree because the workers can see him/her like a workmate but it makes sense when the strategy and the execution of project is correct and it is credible by the teams.
4. What are your thoughts on ‘Get Rich Quick Course’?
I don’t like this approach. Maybe there are some known stories regarding quick succsess in business but normally when we are talking about a solid and consolidated company, that makes rich their stakeholders, behind that there is a deep and big effort achieved in long periods. I prefer solid and consolidated projects befoer frugal ones.
5. Talk about your insights on this, “Corporations became people, as people too, became corporations and every corporation needs a media relations department.”.
I agree that the company needs a Relation Department for many reasons where the main one is to keeo the relations witn customers, stakeholthers, partners and so on, everything according to their values.
Impressive work on writing your answers.
Take a look at how this sentence can be revised:
Until your next post!
1. What are your thoughts on poverty peacocking?
We are living in a period of big changes. The great technological advances and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, together with the social inequalities that already exist, can increase the poverty in the world. It is true that there is greater democratization of access to knowledge and resources, but it is also true that this access is not always easy. This causes poverty to increase. It is necessary to support communities and regions so that they have greater access to resources to reduce poverty in the world.
2. Discuss each of the 3 reasons rich people try to look poor:
– It gets them what they want. It coluld be right if they think they will make a profit with this look. Perhaps for specific situations, but I am not completely agree.
– It is an effective sales tactic. I am in total agreement with this sentence. I think in this way they can make their clients feel that they are similar.
– It helps them keep their workers in line. I do not agree with this statement. In my opinion, you can keep your workers in line sharing the Company´s vision or being kind with your workers.
3. Share your opinion on this, “Humble CEOs are the new fashion.”.
I do not if it is the new fashion, but in my thougths workers prefer humble CEOs.
4. What are your thoughts on ‘Get Rich Quick Course’?
I think is a good claim for an advertisement campaign, but I do not if it is the best course to enroll. I know to be rich is a goal for a lot of people, so they can enroll in the course.
5. Talk about your insights on this, “Corporations became people, as people too, became corporations and every corporation needs a media relations department.”
From my view workers usually share with their corporations values, vision and mision. Because of that corporations became people. The behaviors of workers and leaders are influenced by the company’s values and vision, so people became corporations. I do not if every corporation needs a media relations department.
Welcome to the Phoneenglish blog. Well done for your first writing entry!
Here is a sentence you can revise:
To elaborate on this response, you could state the reasons employees prefer humble CEOs.
Keep going with this exercise so you may be able to practice your skills.