listen to the people for they are the ones with the money

Two recent events have me wondering if companies really take market research seriously. Just last week Facebook reverted to their older Terms of Service agreement after massive user protest and today I read that Pepsi's Tropicana unit will be ... reverting to the old Tropicana OJ containers.

Seems the dramatic about-face came after numerous consumer complaints about the makeover via letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls, asking for a return of the original look. Some even went as far as to described the new packaging as "ugly" or "stupid," and resembling "a generic bargain brand".

"Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?" the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. "Because I do, and the new cartons stink."

Sounds like somebody should have used market research software from 360 degree software before paying for the changes and now paying to change them back. If I was an investor I certainly would be asking the board some hard questions of these two companies.