I think this doesn't quite fit what Muji actually does; their products often lack obvious "forward" branding (of the sort that too often gets fetishized), but a

I think this doesn't quite fit what Muji actually does; their products often lack obvious "forward" branding (of the sort that too often gets fetishized), but are definitely "branded" in the store, and often on the products as well ... (e.g. notepads / pens / etc come with obvious labels that are possible to remove, but people typically don't bother). There are certain attributes associated with Muji products, and that's why people shop there. A much closer fit (for the xkcd strip) is the short-lived early-'80s "generic products" fad in the U.S. You'd get stuff like beer in plain white cans with "BEER" written on them, on ordinary supermarket shelves. I wonder if the xkcd guy knew about that, or whether it's just convergent evolution ... :]