I’m very interested in this ‘blank Penguin notebooks cost more than the books they are pretending to be‘ malarkey.
There are a few issues at play, IMHO.
Is the cost of production of these non-book products higher? Unit cost of manufacturing, cost of transportation, cost of distribution, cost of marketing?
Is the perceived utility of a blank notebook, a coffee mug, or a lawn chair higher than that of a Penguin Classic?
Is pretending to be literate of more value than actually making an attempt to be literate?
Everything’s about image and face. We can snort at kids who want to be like the Beckhams or the Rooneys or the next winner of The X Factor, but we fetishise Penguin merchandise, Pantone merchandise, Moleskine notebooks, and so on — because we consider them outward displays of cool. So we aren’t any better, we just spend more on that shit.