I feel like market research has gotten significantly better, but a blinkered focus on it is destroying brands. It may be a fairly predictable pattern that the most lucrative customers are the worst people, the most gullible, badge obsessed stereotypes who just want to show off. And a brand might not have been defined by them completely, but once it starts having that association, and the data shows that is where the most money can be made, nobody can maintain any other vision for the brand. It's kind of like the classic dilemma of a company facing disruptive innovation, where they can't respond even when everyone can see what's coming.