Pulling back the curtain

August 23, 2003 2:27 PM

Oligopoly Watch. An Oligopoly tracking weblog.
posted by euphorb (8 comments total)

This was pretty fascinating.im a hypocrite though because of the top oligopolies listed, i contribute (at least a little) to everyone.
posted by poopy at 3:27 PM on August 23, 2003

I found the organic oligopoly watch very interesting. As well, the typos are very consistent throughout the page, which is nice.
posted by RubberHen at 4:19 PM on August 23, 2003

Poopy, that is an interesting feature, concerning the pseudo-varieties.

I worked, once, as a clerk at a convenience store and marveled at the many " new" varieties of cigarettes, to name one brand specifically, Pall Mall.

I have always known Pall Mall to be ONE, unfiltered cigarette, usually smoked by old men or older men or those young types that deliberately PICK some weird old man brand.

Being behind the counter, I saw all kinds of possible pseudo-varieties-- still speaking of the cigarette industry.

I thought this development must have been concocted to of course sell more cigarettes, but I imagined it was to pay off the cost of the suits lost by Big Tobacco as well as trying to create new buyers of Pall Mall, which I would think was fast becoming, like Chesterfields, a dead brand.

In addition, the amazing amount of PV's in the orange juice aisle at the local Giganto Mart is mind-boggling, if not laughable: Low Pulp, Pulp, Calcium, etc, etc.

I wonder , if soon, there will be, like the Bic pens of the 70's, a ketchup dispenser with a revolving cap/nozzle, allowing one to decorate whatever they are choosing to place multi-colored catsup on
posted by RubberHen at 4:33 PM on August 23, 2003

Great find, euphorb. I liked this from the about page:

Are oligopolies sinister? Very possibly. But I think it's more useful to see how and why they work than simply rail against globalism and greed. While there are hatefully crooked businessmen (take any set of former Enron or Tyco executives for a start), most oligopolies are based on struggles for survival, not a result of innate evil. Like those proverbial sharks moving forward, businesses either grow or fail, and since most mature markets have limited growth potential, companies often grow by buying other companies. If nothing else, it's fascinating to see how they do it.

Seems rather, er, fair and balanced.
posted by mediareport at 5:10 PM on August 23, 2003

[this is enlightening!]
posted by shoepal at 11:02 PM on August 23, 2003

I wonder , if soon, there will be, like the Bic pens of the 70's, a ketchup dispenser with a revolving cap/nozzle, allowing one to decorate whatever they are choosing to place multi-colored catsup on

You want to be running off to a patent lawyer toot sweet! There's money in that idea! (be sure to patent also the varient that dispenses ketchup/mustard/relish, too).
posted by five fresh fish at 11:51 PM on August 23, 2003

Nestle is the worlds biggest food producer. And almost all of its food is unhealthy.. and we wonder why we have a health crisis.
posted by stbalbach at 8:23 AM on August 24, 2003

I've been following Oligoply watch for about a month now (it's got an RSS feed). The objectivity, even fascination of the site's author towards big business is definitely a feature not a bug. I'm not a fan of crony capitalism or mercantilism masquarading as a free market system. I can feel only rising bile considering them. If OW's author felt that way we would only learn one thing from each and every post: 'oligopies- bad'.
posted by Akaky at 6:22 PM on August 26, 2003