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Remember the Seinfeld where George buys Jon Voight’s car? Or the one where Elaine bids on JFK’s golf clubs? Why would anyone spend money, often a lot of money, on a common object just because somebody famous once owned it? A study in the Journal of Consumer Research offers some insights.

你是否记得在剧集《宋飞传》里，乔治买下了乔恩·沃伊特的车？又是否记得伊莱恩投标承包了JKF的高尔夫俱乐部？为什么总会有人仅仅因为某样物品曾经被名人拥有过，就花钱——而且通常是花大钱——去买下一件普通的东西呢？《消费者研究》杂志上的一项研究发表了一些见解。

In one experiment subjects rated how much they would like to own, say, a watch. Some were told it had belonged to a nobody, others heard it was once a celebrity’s. Study participants rated the same objects as more desirable when they carried the alleged celebrity luster.

在一项实验中，人们对某件物品——比如说一块手表——进行估价。一些人被告知这件物品属于一普通人，其他人则被告知这是一块名人的手表。面对同一件物品，当它被撒上所谓的名人的光辉之后，研究参与者对它的估价就会更高。

Some buyers look at a celebrity’s former possession as an investment. Because they know somebody else will pay even more for it eventually. But other purchasers of objects touched by a famous person are swayed by so-called contagion: the implicit belief that the thing retains some essence or physical trace of the former owner.

有些买家将名人拥有的物品看做一项投资商品，因为他们知道始终会有其他人愿意出更高的价钱买下它。但有些买家买下名人碰过物品则是被所谓的名人传播效应影响了——他们确信这件物品仍保留了前主人的精神和触痕。

In the Seinfeld episode, Elaine got JFK’s golf clubs for $20,000, twice as much as she had been given permission to bid. In an actual auction in 1996 JFK’s clubs went for more than a quarter of a million. Which sounds crazy until you remember that you probably got the bag, too.

在《宋飞传》的情节中，伊莱恩用两万美元买下了JFK的高尔夫俱乐部，超出她被允许出价的两倍。在1996年JFK俱乐部拍卖现场，成交价要高于25万美元。这听上去也许很疯狂，但也许你会突然想起自己也买过这么一个手袋呢。

—Steve Mirsky

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