Companies aim to make quality count: In a land of plenty

The Americans are renowned as tough‐to‐please consumers. This is something that comes with the territory in the world’s richest and most powerful nation, where the most mundane goods are available in a bewildering array of choices. A few years ago, a British television commercial for a 4×4 vehicle exploited this idea. Showing customers with the most complex orders for food and drink, it referred punningly to the vehicle’s suitability for “the most demanding country on Earth”.