At book group today, someone noticed that branding for gasoline not longer seems to be a bid deal in advertising. There was a day when whether you used Esso, or Getty, or Shell was a matter of brand loyalty. That is only true if you are in some sort of signup program to get discounts now. Mobil and Irving have convenience stores attached, and those seem to be their money makers. While you are there, having pulled over to get gas anyway, it is reasonable to spend more for a few fast-moving items.
How does branding go away? Because American lagers are virtually identical anyway, branding is everything for Miller or Budweiser. Yet with other products it no longer seems to matter.
I am interested in what has gone away and what has remained.
Gasoline cannot server as a status symbol because nobody can see the brand of gas you are burning. There is no real difference between what is inside the cans and bottles of assorted American lagers, but the outside has associations. This was shown in the Bud Lite collapse. I remember the days when drivers were invited to "put a tiger in your tank," but that all went away with the oil shock of the 1970s. But I think gasoline would have become a pure commodity in any case because, apart from a few minutes standing at the pump, there is no association between you and the gas you burn,
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