Choice and loyalty

Years ago my grandfather dismissed the idea of cable television saying "what good are all those channels? You can only watch one at a time anyway."

He was right of course. But he grew up in an era of limited choices. Few, if any options. Henry Ford once told his car customers "You can have any color you want as long as it’s black."

Today, the customer has choices. There are dozens of car manufacturers willing to paint your car any color you want. (You can even get a car that changes colors.) If a bad show comes on, you're likely changing the channel. If you don't find something interesting or compelling on a website, you're gone.

Because we have options, our loyalty to one brand of car or one source of news has eroded.

Why stick with a bad product when there are plenty of suitable substitutes? No company could survive today by doing as Ford did and blatantly dismiss the wants of its customers.