Op-Ed Columnist - Premiumize or Perish - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Thomas Pinnau, an executive at Mars Inc., the world’s No. 1 chocolate maker, has an enviable title: Vice President/Indulgence.

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Individualization and customization are two other marketing buzzwords. You can now order regular M&M’s online with an image of your face on them. This enables you to eat yourself, so to speak, an act in which narcissism and individualization merge. Yum.

I’d say premiumization is a pretty good emblem for our 21st-century world. The growth of a global elite is accompanied by a hollowing out of the middle. The base of the social pyramid remains large. Staples like rice and corn still sell; superluxury water (whatever that may be) sells; stuff in the middle does less well. Countries like Mexico increasingly resemble two societies: enclaves of Santa Barbara surrounded by Santa Nada.

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In a premiumized, Desperate-Housewives recession, image trumps logic. Adapt or perish. It’s the Age of Indulgence.

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