Brands are obsessed with appearing cool; therefore, they capture and mine youth

The increasing dominance of certain brands 
will lead to limitations in consumer choices.
In 1994, the film production company Viacom 
purchased Paramount Pictures and Blockbuster 
Video. This gave Viacom an enormous 
advantage because it could profit when its films 
played in Paramount cinemas and also 
afterwards when they came out on video.
This is known as synergy, where corporations 
come together to complete a branded loop 
comprising a range of interconnected brands. 
From mergers and takeovers to cross-marketing 
initiatives such as McDonald’s handing out 
Disney toys with meals, synergy pushes brands 
into new media and markets.
As brands attempt to push their ubiquity further 
and further through synergy and aggressive 
expansion policies, the consumer could be faced 
with a shrinking range of choices.
This is because firms that have a dominant 
position in their market, such as Wal-Mart, can 
impose their own form of corporate censorship. 
Wal-Mart, which plays heavily on its family 
image, can and does refuse to stock music and 
magazines that could upset a family audience. 
Wal-Mart can even force artists to comply. Even 
the immensely popular band Nirvana was forced 
to alter their songs and artwork to appease Wal-
Mart.
A brand’s obsession with protecting its image 
means it also seeks to control every aspect of its 
marketing. 
When 
sponsoring 
events 
or 
advertising in magazines, it seeks to regulate the 
other content adjacent to its own.
Through its takeovers, Viacom now has an 
enormous amount of power. It can control, to its 
own advantage, which films play in the cinema 
and which films are prominently displayed in its 
video stores. It can also severely limit the 
exposure of other producers’ films, giving itself a 
near-monopoly status and leaving the customer 
with a narrower selection.
The increasing dominance of certain brands will 
lead to limitations in consumer choices.