Ponderings From the Toothpaste Aisle On a recent trip to the supermarket, I remembered something I always forget. Toothpaste! Maybe it was because my store had just made masks optional for people claiming to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Seeing all of these people with mouths must have triggered it. I set out to find the toothpaste aisle. It wasn’t difficult. They’ve got almost a whole aisle, and two-thirds of it is either red (Colgate) or blue (Crest). It’s like politics. We’ve got red states and blue states, and nothing in between. Well, at least in the toothpaste aisle, there are a few in between. Granted, most are the Meijer brand, which seems to be red and blue. So why and how do two brands get giant displays, and everything else fights for a few remaining shelves?