Not only are they that stupid...everyone is that stupid.
Look at the conglomerates of this country and tell me what differentiates one product from another?
Virtually every small and mid-size car out of Detroit has the same engine in it from Mitsubishi. Every model has roughly the same design pattern.
Time Warner owns a network, 5 cable nets, parts of 2 others, about 15 magazines, and AOL owns 4 different portals.
General Electric, via GE Capital, owns several companies you probably had no idea they owned (Hunter Fan!!), and exactly how different is MSNBC from CNBC (sure, financial vs. general news...but really...)?
The "look" of competition is as important as actual competition, as far as these companies are concerned. GM is essentially a cobbled-together group of disparate companies who can find economies of scale by working together, but keep their brand names. How are they really all that different from each other?
There are explanations for alot of this (Cadillac is the high-end, Saturn is low-end, etc.), but most of it has to do with perceptions and what you can get away with.
I don't doubt that retailers have more clout than the average consumer...but if the deals are made to look good, they will pretty much buy anything to stock their shelves. |
