Appearances- Gangnam Style

I found it both interesting and upsetting that, in order to increase their chances of success, immigrants had to "melt" into the American masses. So many (if not all) of these stories mention the need to "look" American, or to possess material items to give the appearance of wealth.
That being said, I think that this is still a practice today around the world.
In a not-so-subtle transition, I'd like to address the pop craze that has been galloping around VCU's campus as well as every form of social media.
I'm sure you've all heard of PSY's Gangnam Style.
But aside from the catchy beat and hilarious choreography, what is this video referring to? From what I've found, it is actually about the "putting on of appearances" within Korean culture. It is the youth-semi-hipster-but-materialistic type of posing that inspired the song. It is the extreme of buying fashionable clothes, ordering the smallest size of expensive coffee but asking for it in the largest cup, the subduing of eccentricities beyond what is considered fashionable—all in order to "appear" as this ideal. The imitation of the fashionable Gangnam district.

"For those not knowing, Gangnam has a lot of style, almost all of it condensed into a street called Garosu-Gil, a mini Rodeo Drive of international clothing stores and Korean boutiques. Some of the clothes you can find elsewhere, but lots you cannot. Limited run, in-house designs by local artisans create an exclusive air. There is virtually no tourist element, except for Koreans who go there as (I gather) tourists in their own city, fancy for the day. Everywhere else in Seoul on the streets all you see is Hyundai, Daewoo, Kia. In Gangnam on Garosu-Gil it's Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar. Beautiful people drink coffee in sidewalk cafes crossing their legs like it's an art, adjusting double windsor knots, checking large-screen Samsung phones. There are impromptu fashion shoots in the winding backstreets and alleys, a model on a stoop, a photographer, a person with a clipboard. "

 http://seattletimes.com/html/matsononmusic/2018975926_gangnam_style_what_does_it_mea.html



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0


What other ways is this idea of maintaining appearances a major part of today's society?