[chad_strategic]

I believe what you are asking here is the fundamental question marketing and branding have trying to solve since well the invention of economic choice of products. (Coke or Pepsi)

The advertising industry has made billions and billions trying to convince very similar products are the unique and different.

[throw1234651234]

Do Coke and Pepsi really compete? They seem to be content with running ads reminding people that they still exist, but I don't see any targeted against each other. Seems they are willing to co-exist as the two "leading" brands that people think of interchangeably.

[neogodless]

Brands used to (and sometimes still do) attack each other in ads, or at least do something like "in a blind taste test" to demonstrate they were superior. Perhaps newer research has shown this to be ineffective, so it might be less common now. (Just last month Intel was doing Intel PC vs Mac ads, and Microsoft has been doing PC vs Mac ads lately.)

[chad_strategic]

Of course they compete. I'm sure the CEO of each respective company would like to increase their fat bonuses.

Comparing one product vs. another is a certain type of advertising. It's a type of advertising that targets a certain type of demographic, basically negative advertising. (don't know enough to know which group.)

While type a response... it occurred to me and slightly off topic. Where else do they use negative advertising? Political advertising maybe?

And there you have it... a whole another topic of discussion that would be pretty interesting.