50 Differently Priced Bags by Simon Heijdens x United Statements
Presented during the 2003 Salone del Mobile in Milan, 50 Differently Priced Bags transformed an ordinary purchase into an experiment in consumer behaviour. Simon Heijdens and United Statements offered fifty identical white bags for sale, assigning each one a different price between €1 and €50. With no variation in appearance, quality or function, the price label became the only factor separating one bag from another.
If identical products have different prices, would you choose the cheapest? And if fifty identical bags were offered at different prices, would the cheapest sell first?
The choices made by visitors became an essential part of the project. Bags priced between €1 and €10 disappeared almost immediately, while the more expensive examples sold much more slowly. Only a small number of people deliberately chose to pay a higher price, and some attempted to exchange the labels.
By placing identical objects at radically different price points, the project explores how cost influences our perception of value. It exposes the assumptions behind a seemingly rational purchase and asks whether a higher price can make an ordinary object appear more desirable, exclusive or significant. Once the label is removed, however, every bag is the same.
