They advertise their cars as being a palace on wheels. In the commercial, it shows a man driving through the country looking like a thirty-year old millionaire. The commercials for Lexus and Mercedes are obviously trying to appeal to the upper class by showing people in golf shirts and suits. Chevy unlike these cars appeals to the working man, by showing a man in a flannel shirt with a dog loading lumber in the back of the truck. Lexus and Mercedes, in my opinion are status symbols.
Advertisers prey on people who have money and want to spend in frivolously.
Another example I can think of is Grey Pupon mustard. The commercial portrays upper class people using this high quality product. This is a classic commercial that shows two men in Rolls Royce pulling up to each other and saying the classic line. Any normal person would look at that commercial and laugh it off, but an ostentatious person sees this and he cannot eat any product without Grey Pupon. People have this idea that somebody else knows better.