As always, Marcus, we are close on some issues and world's apart on others. I'll let you have most of the last word on this, but want to comment on one thing you wrote:
>One can be successful at selling a product *without* alienating the >peoples these >are being sold to. You can't sell products to people you have alienated. Its the ones that you have not alienated that you can sell to. Which means that just because one person hates a product or company or marketing scheme, if that product or company or marketing scheme is profitable, there are obviously some people who have not been alienated and who will buy the product. I claim, Marcus, that you are making judgements about companies and products (certainly your right), and then presuming that everyone feels that way. I just don't believe that, because if everyone hated the company or product, then it would fail. Here's an example: I have a group of friends who are quite liberal and take some perverse kind of pride in bad-mouthing McDonald's: crummy food, poor service, unhealthy food, etc. Some of these folks just detest McDonald's and make comments like "I can't believe they manage to stay in business with such crummy food and service." Then, around lunchtime I drive to get my mail, and the nearby McDonald's has a full parking lot, a string of cars around the building in the drive-thru lane, etc. Who is fooling who here? I claim that these friends are fooling themselves into thinking that their own opinions are widely held. BTW, I happen to like McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc., not because I think the food is all that great, but because they are FAST -- and I rarely care to waste an hour going to a restaurant for lunch. In other words, I (and I think many people) value something very highly other than just the quality of the food -- the speed with which we can get the food. Marcus, I suspect that although you clearly detest American football, there must be some Canadians who like it, or the efforts to take it to Canada would never get off the ground. Oh, I did not know that McDonald's customized their menus to the locale, but am delighted to learn it. I use them as an example just because I often hear them denigrated. Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
