[k2enemy]

I wonder if food companies will embrace a bottle that ends up decreasing the number of bottles of ketchup consumers need to buy? I suppose if one company adopted the bottle then it would give them an advantage in the marketplace over their competition and possibly increase sales, but if everyone adopts the bottle then the whole industry loses (assuming prices don't change). Prisoner's dilemma!

[goldfeld]

Many technological advances happen like this, where the first few to use get an edge, then everyone else uses as it becomes a requirement rather than an edge--and the situation is then irreversible because anyone trying to opt out of the trend would be at great disadvantage (unless some really clever marketing and rationale is employed, of course).

But if somehow everyone opted out together they would be better off for it (sometimes even consumers, though arguably not in this case). It's commonly referred to as "smart for one, dumb for all."