Ethereal and Ephemeral Luxury: Chocolate’s Transformational Journey from Luxury to Commodity (and back?) - Part II -

LoL Essay 008 - By Mario Schultz

LOL Essay 008 - By Mario Schultz 

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Abstract
Drawing on the example of chocolate’s evolution, this two-part essay explores ethereal and ephemeral luxury – two unconventional perspectives on luxury. Ethereal luxury, as discussed in Part One, is rooted in transcendence and the sublime, as demonstrated by tracing chocolate‘s historical journey from a sacred “food of the gods” to a globally accessible commodity. Part Two examines ephemeral luxury, illustrating how impermanence shapes luxury value both in fleeting moments and over time. The discussion highlights that soaring cocoa prices - driven by climate change and related environmental pressures - may reposition chocolate as a rare luxury in the near future. Overall, the essay underscores the dynamic interplay between changing cultural meanings, material abundance, and ecological constraints in shaping the peculiar nature of luxury.

 
Ephemeral Luxury
Building on the exploration of ethereal luxury through the example of chocolate’s journey from a sacred “food of the gods” to a democratized commodity (Part 1), this second essay explores luxury through an ephemeral perspective. Ephemeral refers to something that lasts for a short amount of time, highlighting impermanence, transience, and its fleeting nature (Cambridge University Press, 2025). For a better discussion, the concept of ephemeral luxury may be broken down into two categories: (1) narrow and (2) broad luxury ephemerality. While narrow luxury ephemerality focuses on the fleeting nature of individual experiences and goods, broad luxury ephemerality emphasizes how the perception and accessibility of luxury itself can evolve over time.

1. Narrow luxury ephemerality

The narrow form arises from the appreciation of short-lived luxury experiences and goods. Notions of heritage and longevity have shaped traditional perceptions of luxury ownership. The value of owning a rare Rolex Daytona, or Cartier diamond, stems from their endurance, while never becoming old-fashioned —or as De Beer’s famous slogan puts it, “A diamond is forever” (Janssen et al., 2014). But “What if diamonds did not last forever?” is what Desmichel et al.’s (2020) title provocatively replied. Well, in this case, we enter the realm of ephemeral luxury.
Narrow luxury ephemerality departs from the traditional understanding of luxury ownership and holding onto a luxury item, instead emphasizing the appreciation of its fleeting nature (Berthon et al., 2009). In other words, ephemeral luxury is luxury of the moment, where impermanence is the actual source of its value - when it’s gone, it’s gone (Holmqvist et al., 2020). The introductory quote of Mariska Hargitay precisely highlights how value arises from the fleeting “deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good.” Thus, the key for companies to exploit ephemeral luxury lies in curating moments of fleeting impermanence, or positioning luxury items as keepers of precious, yet fleeting moments, as Patek Philippe once brilliantly did in an iconic campaign, positioning its watch as a keeper and bridge of fleeting moments of joy (Pulvirent, 2016).
Understanding narrow, ephemeral luxury and the value of impermanence in a singular experience provides a foundation for grasping broader trends in luxury consumption and how they may alter the very definition of luxury over time.
 

Figure 1: New York Cocoa futures price (USD per ton) from 1960 to 2024, based on data from Bloomberg and the Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (Source: Blas, 2024). Graph created by M. Schultz, background photo by Ákos Helgert on Pexels.

2. Broad luxury ephemerality
Broad luxury ephemerality captures how the perception and access to luxury can evolve over time, involving a dynamic interplay between scarcity and abundance. Once exclusive items may become widespread, and vice versa, contributing to their perceived status as luxury. In this regard, scarcity plays a crucial role in enhancing perceived value and desirability (Janssen et al., 2014). As a consequence, managing scarcity is at the heart of modern-day luxury management, as companies can implement this principle through pricing, production, and distribution strategies, and sometimes even by destroying millions of dollars’ worth of their products (Lieber, 2018).
What Janssen et al. (2014, p. 47) describe as ‘natural scarcity’ – “shortages of raw ingredients or components” may be the most difficult to manage, as illustrated by cocoa’s transformational journey. For 28 centuries, the narrow luxury ephemerality of chocolate lay in its exclusive consumption being reserved for the elite. However, the abundance of raw materials, facilitated by dehumanizing slave-based plantation economics, combined with mass production through the “Dutching,” made chocolate accessible to a very wide population (Coe & Coe, 2013; Norton, 2006). Thus leading to an increase in the raw ingredients and ultimately resulting in wider accessibility to ephemeral moments of chocolate consumption. Ironically, the very abundance that contributed to chocolate’s changing luxury status is now threatened by climate change. Climate change has a major impact on cocoa plantations worldwide, with high temperatures, low pollination, and soil (Läderach et al., 2013; Lander et al., 2025) loss threatening the central growing locations (Lander et al., 2025). Outperforming even tech giants like Nvidia, cocoa futures have skyrocketed over 250% in 2024 amid severe supply shortages (Blas, 2024; Richter, 2024). This highlights how financial speculation and environmental pressures are reshaping cocoa’s status as a commodity, and its potential reclassification as a luxury, while mirroring the broader tension between abundance and scarcity that shaped cocoa’s ethereal legacy (Part 1). Similar trends are affecting markets for vanilla and coffee (Gerretsen, 2021).
As chocolate’s journey from ‘food of the gods’ to democratized luxury now faces an uncertain future, it becomes clear that its fate as luxury is not fixed. Mariska Hargitay called chocolate our “first luxury,” but with the current climate change trajectory, we are likely on a path to making it our last. As cocoa becomes scarcer and more expensive, will chocolate be relegated to the exclusive domain of the few, transforming into a bittersweet reminder of more abundant times?
 
References
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