New comment on your post "Free advertising"
Author : James Hanley (IP: 69.246.48.125 , c-69-246-48-125.hsd1.mi.comcast.net)
E-mail : jhanley@adrian.edu
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<blockquote>I have long been infatuated with the concept of advertising for entire industries rather than for an individual firm. Like, “Beef: It’s what’s for dinner.”</blockquote>
Cartels.  When it's difficult to distinguish one producer's product from another's ("Honey this steak is great!  Is it from Hank's Big Texas Cattle Ranch or Bill's Blue Sky Montana Cattle Ranch?") cartels are often organized and producers required to contribute to advertising.  That's how we get the California Raisins, the "Real Dairy" campaign, and "Pork, the other white meat."  I suppose Idaho potatoes and Vidalia onions might follow a similar approach.  An unusual case are the old diamonds commercials, which were paid for by the deBeers cartel, which was unusual in that it wasn't a government organized cartel, but a private firm that controlled enough of the diamond market to make marketing the product in general worthwhile, even if minor firms also benefited.

Of course sometimes producers go to great lengths to get you to believe their product is truly distinguished.  Hence you can find magazine ads encouraging you to pay a premium price for steaks from Bill's Big Sky Montana Cattle Ranch, on the dubious premise that their meat really does taste that much different/better than what you'll find at your local butcher.

I like Sam's idea, though, and it would be a pretty easy laboratory study to see whether people respond positively to ads such as "Eggs.  God bless America."

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