I don't think so. After the collapse of Eastern Germany there was a rush on the western brands that were unavailable throughout the separation. Now there's a no

I don't think so. After the collapse of Eastern Germany there was a rush on the western brands that were unavailable throughout the separation. Now there's a nostalgia for some of the old eastern brands that got wiped out. I think brands are orthogonal to the question of propaganda in repressive systems. In fact, one of the main points of a brand in a free market is a kind of promise of predictable minimum quality. In a closed market that doesn't really work because brands don't compete and the feedback loop from the customer is broken.