Some of the rules of marketing success are illustrated by this story about women's fascination with hand bags. Taken from Spectator, August, 2009 by Deborah Ross who had interviewed Anya Hindmarch, Britain's accessory queen.

"It took just twenty minutes, from receipt of the secret link over email, for the 'I'm NOT a Plastic Bag' to sell out yesterday afternoon. These were the lucky few. The previous day hundreds of fashionistas had queued up outside Hindmarch's two London stores for a chance to compete for one of the 1,000 bags available."

The £5, limited-edition tote, was produced in 2007 in collaboration with the social change movement We Are What We Do.

"We kind of piggy-backed the formula I hate,' she says, 'which is the "it" bag phenomenon.' Make it hard to get? 'Yes. It was about scarcity, and the right people wearing it, plus getting a designer bag for £5, which is quite potent.' And if you hadn't made it a limited edition, if they had been freely available, no one would have wanted one? 'Exactly.' It is spectacularly manipulative marketing but goddamn it, she did make not using a plastic bag fashionable, which has to be good."