> It's very silly to invest $billions in brand awareness and building market share, if your product is junk and customers will eventually find out. Marketing spend could be seen as the "peacock's tail" of the business world -- a credible signal that the company stands by their product.

Interesting, never thought about it that way. I often find that obviously expensive advertising lowers my expectations in the product and especially in the price performance ratio, since I can't stop thinking about having to pay for the advertising too, not just the actual product/service I want. Which I don't want to.