An old children's song by the famous Argentine singer-songwriter and poet María Elena Walsh announced that “…In the upside-down kingdom a bird swims, and a fish flies…” Today, reality itself reminds us at every step that yes, we live in the upside-down kingdom.

This can be seen when learning, for example, about the most expensive lighters in the world, and although the numerous materials that abound on the Internet do not specify who their buyers have been, it’s assumed that they are individuals who need to light, along with their cigarettes, also their ego and vanity.

This “need” to make status shine next to the flame of the lighters has driven the market to sell these pieces that, more than matchsticks, are high-end creations made with gold, platinum and lots of precious stones.

This is the case of the Montgolfière lighter by ST Dupont, tailored made and as a tribute to the hot air balloon test carried out by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783, in the south of France.

As an allegory to the ancient event, the piece includes a porcelain globe with gold decorations next to the lighter, made of 24 carat gold and inlaid with diamonds, with an exclusive edition price of over 200 thousand dollars.

However, it’s by no means the most expensive matchbox. There’s one, with the Guinness World Records, which in set format was sold to a businessman from Hong Kong almost ten years ago for more than half a million euros. It includes a table lighter and a pocket lighter, both made of solid gold and with almost 200 sapphires of between 9-13 carats embedded in it.

But these lines are not to comment on matchboxes -much less here, where even buying matches is difficult, not to mention how bad they are-, but to approach the so-called ultra-luxury market.

It’s a term that has been heard lately and, more than traditional luxury and the so-called high-end, it’s distinguished by extreme quality, also by craftmanship work, and is aimed at a very small and exclusive market segment.

This market includes goods and experiences, and its most prominent segments are automobiles, hotels, and personal products. The category that they identify as experiences stands out in this ultra-luxury "bubble."

If there are those in the world who are forced to queue up to buy basic need articles, and in many geographies even to obtain drinking water, these empowered people sign up on waiting lists, waiting comfortably in their mansions, yachts and private planes, for the notice that it’s "their turn" to access their desired product, which is not only lighters of course.

There’s a magnetic floating bed, literally a bed suspended in the air thanks to powerful magnets and valued at around 1,300,000 euros; a crystal piano, covered in crystals and diamonds, used at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and priced at around 3 million euros; a Louis Vuitton purser, which costs one million euros; and even a bubble stick, made of 100% sterling silver!

The luxury and ultra-luxury industry is moving more money than ever, to the point of closing 2023 with a record figure of around 1.5 billion euros, almost 10% more than the previous year. Asia and Europe led the growth, while the Americas experienced a slowdown in the year.

Projections looking to 2030 predict that consumption in that industry will have a solid expansion, reaching 2.5 billion by then. They also predict that young people from the so-called Y, Z and Alpha generations will be the main consumers of luxury by that date, while single-brand and online stores will consolidate themselves as the main sales channels for such super-exclusive items.

One might wonder how far this folly will go in this world where, while this type of consumption is on the rise, millions of people are dying on the planet due to hunger and other calamities that could easily be stopped with investments smaller than those that this ultra-luxury market adds up to.

The following data make this harsh truth explicit:

Those who study ultra-luxury indicate that this market “represents the highest expression of refinement and exclusivity in the modern world” since “distinction becomes a valuable currency in society.”

Yes, undoubtedly its consumers are distinguished by living vainly and turning their backs on many realities of this world.

When profiling these consumers, some say that “They are individuals who value history, exclusivity and personalization above all else.” It’s clear that for them their ego is exclusively “above all else,” but what history is that? The shameful history of so much selfishness in this upside-down kingdom?

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff