Excess

What do you give to a person who has everything? Many American manufacturers, retailers, and catalogue businesses seem to be perpetually preoccupied with this question.

Below is a selection of sometimes funny, sometimes marginally useful, but inevitably superfluous products, made available through in-flight magazines and catalogues. This random selection provides a curious insight into continuing intermingling of High and Low, a pervasive trait in American culture. In the featured merchandise, one could find, for example, obvious Pop Art references (Storage Center for 53 Batteries; Rack for 24 Baseball Caps), elements of Magritte-like Surrealism (Realistic Boulder to Disguise Yard Problems), or pieces worthy of American Minimalist Art (Driveway Net).

Do these objects really sell?