I think they mean that back then, elaborate marketing campaigns (yes, for money) were a bit more commonplace, while today, the fun veneer over the greed has worn thin and most companies scrape by with the widest but shallowest marketing strategies that are even more transparent in their greed. We all know companies want our money, so any time we forget that momentarily is kind of like suspension of disbelief when watching a movie. The bar for the suspension of disbelief in corporate greed is simply getting lower. They realized they don’t need to try that hard to still make money hand over fist. Doing this again would be pretty expensive. You know what’s cheaper? Slapping some canned images and animations over existing logos and stuff.

It seems stupid to be annoyed by the fact that the ever-hungry jaws of capitalism “aren’t as fun as they used to be” but i think it’s getting upset over the fact that companies think they don’t even need to disguise their avarice to get away with it. And to a growing extent, they’re right. The showmanship being romanticized was meant to dazzle and distract the masses from the uglier parts of business, but now we just accept them instead. There is no shame in greed, no reason to hide malice when it’s an accepted tool of your trade.