The similarity is that a sports fan buys a t-shirt and vicariously "wins" with "his" team / an $company fan buys a $product and vicariously "wins" with "his" $c

The similarity is that a sports fan buys a t-shirt and vicariously "wins" with "his" team / an $company fan buys a $product and vicariously "wins" with "his" $company. There are lots of examples of $company:$product pairings, e.g. Apple/iDevice, Google/Android, Microsoft/Windows. Also, before you cast the "provide entertainment" stone, you should look around you at how people are using tech company products. I would venture to guess that, outside of the workplace (and inside the workplace when workers can get away with it), entertainment is the #1 use of computer-based devices. Apps in the App Store, game consoles, computer games, YouTube, emailing LoLcats, browser-based games (Farmville - 100% wasted time) etc.