June Thomas, of Slate, explains:
“The apparently endless permutation of benefits promised by the products in the toothpaste aisle exist for the same reason there are an infinite variety of breakfast cereals or soft drinks. As Michael Moss explained in his book Salt Sugar Fat, ‘The main point of generating product line extensions is to win more space on the [supermarket] shelf. Store managers will only give so much room to any one product, no matter how briskly it is selling. Adding new flavors and colors creates new products that get their own space, and the more likely shoppers are to see the brand, the more likely they are to buy it.’ As it is with Doritos, so it is with dentifrice.”
