Seeing through the brand games.

• Author: Thorne, Charles H.
• Position: Brief article

I cheered out loud and shouted, "See? See? I told you so!" to my wife, who came running in to see what was the matter with me. "Look here," I said, "Jeff Rundles agrees with me about brand names!" (Rundles, "The brand promise: empty," May.)

You are absolutely right--42 kinds of cat food and 53 kinds of dog food from the same plant is just not realistic. And when it comes to gasoline, I see the same unmarked tanker truck delivering gasoline to various gas stations in the area, like a bee going from flower to flower.

I don't know if it's true, but I was told once by a station operator that the only difference in gasolines is in the additives, and that very often it is the local station manager's decision to put (or not put) certain additives in. Doesn't this mean there could be variances from station to station even...