There is a story that Johnnie Walker Black Label was the #1 selling scotch whisky in Japan. The marketing brains decided that lowering the price would increase volume.

Instead, sales plummeted.

It seems that, in Japan, lists are produced of the Top 10 in each category. The category is sorted by price. Whereas Johnny Walker used to sit in the #1 spot on that list it had fallen down to a lower price-point on the list.

So, why did sales fall instead of increase?

Because the list serves to define social status of the customers: if you buy somebody the #1 item on one of these lists it promotes your status as well as theirs ("Look how important I think you are because I am giving you the #1 scotch on the list. Please be nice to me in return!").

Johnny Walker quickly raised prices and their scotch reverted to the top of the list, as did sales.