This series of events takes up just a few pages in one chapter of Sullivan's 303-page book. But I've focused on it because it is a stellar example of a primary market issue that many people - not only markets' critics but some of their defenders too - have failed to acknowledge. It's neither makers nor marketers who successfully attach meaning to the products they want to sell. It's the consumers who impute meaning to those products they choose to buy.
When something is in style, it tends to show up (or perhaps we tend to see
it) everywhere.