people would still want the, objectively worse, natural stuff, because for some reason

It's not a mystery reason. Its advertising. Billions upon billions of dollars, millions of man hours, Gigawatts of energy, landfills of brouchers and fliers and billboards - all hammering into you that these luxury tokens are worth the six or seven figure price tag that a retailer has placed on them.

It's propaganda of the must vile sort. The painful irony of it all is the absurd volumes spent to coerce people into these purchases relative to the skinflint labor practices used to dig the stuff out and manufacture it.