CASE STUDY: PLEASE HELP AND ANSWER THIS QUESTION URGENTLY

A recent article in the New York Times presented a story about two Connecticut women, both in their early 50s, both mothers, both now single (one widowed and one divorced) and both acting to celebrate their lives by pleasing themselves. So what did they do? They both brought new Mercedes automobiles.

Indeed, over the past few years, there has been a growth in the sales of fu or extravagant cars to middle aged women, and a movement by these omen away from minivans and SUVs. Car dealers have reported that women are walking into their dealerships and are exhibiting much more interest in horsepower than in trunk space. While there is no particular brand of vehicle that is preferred, middle-age women have been buying a lot of convertible and other "non-family" type cars. If the woman drove a convertible when she was young and single and enjoyed the experience, then she wants a convertible now. If she considered pickup trucks to be "tough and sexy" when she as a young woman, then it's a pickup truck she now wants to be driving.

While some might call this a midlife crisis- after all quite a few men want a Corvette for their 50^th birthday- others call it an "unrealistic desire." With the buyer wanting to go back to the person she remembers being before becoming a mom and needing a minivan. And these women are walking into car dealerships very knowledgeable, often thanks to the information acquired over the Internet.

Q1.How can the concept of self-gifting be used to explain the increased interest of women in purchasing nonfamily-type vehicles?