A forum I belong to was recently discussing a
white gold diamond encrusted pacifier.  Many of
the mothers were appalled at the audacity of such
a friviouls thing.  “That money could be better
spent!”  “Think of all the good that could have
been with that money if it weren’t wasted on that
gaudy trinket!”  “What a waste of money”
But was it truly a waste of money?
I did a brief search on this pacifer and read that
Brad Pitt and Angelina Joie had one of these
trinkets for Shiloh where she was born.  I found
dozens of blogs and websites referencing this
pacificer, from parenting blogs to luxury item
websites!  Now, there is some disagreent on
whether Brad and Angelina bought this pacifier or
if it was gifted upon them.  Also, the maker of
the pacifer stated that it was NOT to be used.  So
basically you have an ornate and expensive
paperweight.
Was it a waste of money?
My gut reaction to anything so extravagant usually involves my jaw dropping. After I scooped my jaw off the floor, I looked at this pacifier with a new perspective.  The company who created this pacifier is benefiting tremendously from their creation!  How many people have heard about this opulence and searched for it on the internet?  (I’m guilty here too!)  However, this pacifier was given or bought at Shiloh’s birth, which was in 2006!
Think of all the free advertising the company has received FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS!  It is incredible!  And people are STILL talking about this pacifier to this day!
Is it a waste of money?
Not to the worker who designed the pacifier, nor the webmaster, nor the copywriter, nor the vendor who supplied the materials, nor the employees of the vendor and not even the bloggers and website owners who have POSTED about this pacifier!  This gaudy thing has generated traffic to their website !
In my humble opinion, no… I do not think it was a waste of money.