It's not just that it's confusing, it's misleading. Humans attach a lot of value to names of things. The whole history of a thing is keyed on its name, a fact t

It's not just that it's confusing, it's misleading. Humans attach a lot of value to names of things. The whole history of a thing is keyed on its name, a fact that is especially pertinent in the internet era. If some brand has built up a bad rep, they shouldn't be allowed to change it just by renaming themselves. Likewise a firm that's built a good rep and wants to try something new in order to protect the brand shouldn't be allowed to either. I don't know whether the law could ever protect us from this, I suppose it's more the job of the media to keep remind us who Altria are, and where Lexus came from. A lot of brand shenanigans is basically abusing how humans associate history with names. Somehow it's never been an ethical issue to change brands, spawn a new brand, or buy another brand while hollowing out the product.