But "buying for quality" and "buying for status" are different, and I don't think rich people conflate the two (or the people here). The person buying Louis Vuitton luggage (or whatever rich people buy these days) knows they are buying it for status among their similarly wealthy friends.

But I don't think this article is about them.

The smart middle class family buys the best they can afford given their budget, but the less-smart family buys the cheapest they can find and will probably live to regret it. Articles like this try to encourage the first approach.