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I have seen many words used to describe the wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia’s richest man, to pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant. The word “lavish” is used a lot. Then there is “extravagant”, “opulent”, “glamorous”, “lavish”, “magnificent”. I have also seen the formula “there are weddings and then there is the Ambani wedding” used by at least three magazines.
But grotesque? Obscene? A disgusting display of wealth in a country – India – where inequality has risen so dramatically over the past decade? Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places, but I haven’t found many such accusations. Especially striking, in certain quarters of the British press in particular, has been the lack of snide comments about former prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, who flew to Mumbai with their wives for the occasion.
What happened to the great British tradition of shaming the rich? It seems to have fallen out of fashion. Not that I want to bring it back. per se —especially when it veers into snobbery about the nouveau riche. — But I fear that their absence is symptomatic of a culture that has gone too far in the opposite direction. We have grown accustomed to praising the rich for being rich and seem to have lost our distaste for ostentatious displays of wealth.
It has become almost impossible to mention a successful business man or woman without mentioning their net worth, while some of those occupying the top spots show little humility about it. Elon Musk, in his typically grown-up style, tweeted a silver medal emoji to Jeff Bezos when he surpassed him as the world’s richest man in 2021. He told Forbes that would send Amazon founder “a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal.”
The Ambani wedding guest list gave Davos a run for its money. Among the members of the world elite in attendance were Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former US Secretary of State – and Davos favourite – John Kerry, and, of course, two Kardashians. And that was just the final wedding party, which took place last weekend. The pre-wedding celebrations in March included Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton and Ivanka Trump. The five months of nuptial events – It was reported that it had a cost $600 million — took place not only in India but also in Italy, Cannes and on a Mediterranean cruise, and featured performances by Rihanna, Justin Bieber, the Backstreet Boys and Katy Perry.
One can only imagine the carbon emissions. The Indian Defence Force It is reported that he has stepped in to allow 600 incoming and outgoing flights over five days at the usually quiet Jamnagar airport for the celebrations in March (including a private jet carrying Rihanna and Another one that carries her luggage and her staff.), while the CEO of the private jet company Club One Air told Reuters that the Ambanis hired three planes to transport those guests who did not have their own private plane to get to the celebrations.
And yet, while it has become an annual tradition to mock billionaires, bankers and world leaders who fly to Davos Every January they meet to discuss the various ways they are going to save the world, but the disdain does not seem to extend to less noble goals. As long as they are not be a hypocrite It seems so, but by simply enjoying your enormous fortune without pretending that you are doing something more valuable, you are safe.
Why does society now seem more comfortable with such displays of wealth? Part of it is because of the way the internet and social media have homogenised culture and spread Western, particularly American, values across the world. In America, a country where in principle if not always in practice anyone can rise to the top, there has historically not been the same self-consciousness around wealth that we have in class-conscious Britain. Social media influencers like “self madeKylie Jenner has glorified and, hilariously, normalized enormous levels of wealth.
But China shows that things might be changing in some places. Fifteen years after the global financial crisis, economic growth is slowing again there. In April, its internet regulator announced it was launching a campaign to criminalize “flaunting wealth.” Authorities have suspended the social media accounts of many wealthy Chinese social media influencers in recent months, such as Wang Hongquanxingknown as “China’s Kim Kardashian.” According to Bain & CompanyGrowing economic instability in China is creating a “luxury shame” similar to what the United States experienced during the financial crisis.
I have no particular desire to shame the Ambanis for their wedding, nor do I support shutting down the social media accounts of the rich. But I do think it’s time we stopped worshipping the rich. Let’s find more important things to value. And for the love of God, let’s ban lists of billionaires.