[johnnyanmac]

So, you agree with the GP but also think it's a conspiracy that brands care about their brand perception?

You may ot even be wrong about "peer pressure", but that's how so much of the rest of the world works. Part of the downturn isnt based on economic logic but peer pressure: "BigCo is sizing down so we should too!". The aforementioned brand perception is the exact same way, but based on the consumers over the company. The Stock market as a whole is literally based on speculation.

As long as stuff is run by peoople, people will influence other people to make decisions based more on gut feelings than raw facts.