Misplaced marketing Colas big and little: anti‐trust laws, non‐regulation and the disabled marketing of small brands

Shelf access fees and cooperative merchandising agreements are tactics that clearly give power to big business, and nowhere is this more evident than in the soft drink wars. The lack of legal protection against these tactics by US regulators can squeeze small brands out of the retail environment and effectively disable the marketing strategy of small soft drink companies and other small businesses. Thus, marketing becomes not only misplaced, but irrelevant.