If I recall correctly, the oil embargo of the '70s killed most gasoline brand loyalty.
When consumers needed to get their gas at whichever station had it that day they learned there was no apparent difference between the brands.
That’s plausible as well.
I like the theory that it’s linked to the credit cards. Advertising that convinces someone to get a fuel-brand credit card is much more effective because that customer will have a tendency to buy your brand for many years. The convenience of the card makes up for the convenience of whichever station is at hand.
Are we that sure that the commercials have actually gone away, or are we just no longer in the demographic they’re aimed at? Media channels have multiplied and commercial targeting has improved quite a lot in the last few decades.
When I was a kid, all I saw were commercials for toys and junk food.
When I watch TV now, all I see are car insurance and travel and pharmaceutical advertisements
Perhaps the fuel commercials are aimed at the 16-22 year old market. The people who are starting to buy gas for the first time and might be convinced to make a lifelong brand commitment.
In California at least there are independent “no brand” stations which are cheaper and often don’t take credit cards. I always thought the price was lower because they buy gas from whichever refinery is cheapest at the time, but it sounds like that’s not the case if everyone gets their gas from the same place. What makes the gas at these stations cheaper? I guess they aren’t paying credit card fees; are branded stations paying franchise fees that are rolled into the cost of gas?
In Southern California there’s a new wrinkle. Ralphs Grocery Co. has an arrangement with Shell Oil to give “points” to supermarket customers: Buy enough stuff at the store and get points toward a 5c or 10c discount per gallon at the pump, at Shell. I know about this because, even though we get plenty of points, I don’t always get the discount and I have to make a complaint.
Is it really new in SoCal? Grocery loyalty program gas discounts have been around… seemingly almost everywhere… for years.
Here in eastern Kansas, the programs have been around for years, but they are for the grocery stores’ own fuel pumps (Hy-Vee and Dillons) or for the convenience store chain with common ownership (Dillons and Kwik Shop are both Kroger-owned). I’m not aware of any deals between a grocery store and a national gasoline chain such as Shell.
Of course, there’s only one Shell station within 50 miles of me. 
Speaking of loyalty programs (which indeed have been around a long time) …
I wonder if this has an effect: People are sticking with the same brand of gas more and are less likely to switch.
Good grief, when I go to the other side of the country, I make sure to fill up at the local equivalent of our grocery chain to get a discount.
Another effect is, for example, two gas stations near me. One no name cheap gas, one big name pricier gas. Guess which one has cars at the pumps all the time?
Throw in that a lot of people stop at certain stations not for the love of the gas but what the store is selling in terms of food and beverages and other effects. (I think the big name gas station above stays in business solely due to the convenience store side.) And unlike gas, there is a lot of variability in quality and variety of that part. They aren’t like McDonald’s franchises where they’re all the same.
Advertisers don’t waste their time if people are unlikely to switch to their product. Hence the focus on reaching young adults. They tend to less settled and more likely to switch. (And of course young folks don’t drive as much today as in generations past.)
If people don’t get persuaded to switch based on the ads for gas, then why do ads?
Shell is real big with that program nationwide. They pick one prominent grocery chain in each region to hook up with. Down here it’s Winn-Dixie.
Chevron still advertises in TV commercials, I’m sure everyone has seen their claymation cartoons with anthropomorphic vehicles:
The gist of the ads is that your car is your friend and the right gas will take care of your friend.
Up here in Washington State it’s the Kroger-owned stores (Fred Meyer, QFC).
Anyone remember the fake orange and black tiger tails they gave out to attach to your gas cap?
The great grandpappy of the Garfield paraphernalia, I suppose. 
As insane as it sounds:
Before Bank of America (then the largest privately owned bank in the world) introduced the BankAmeriCard*, each card issuer was a unique entity - your Shell card was usable only at Shell stations, Macy’'s card was good only at Macys, etc.
This was a great way to build brand loyalty.
Once everyone started accepting BankAmericard, the private cards lost market share.
(yes, I do know about American Express, Diner’s Card, and other “exclusive” CHARGE cards - take it elsewhere)
- BofA sold the operation. The new owners named it ‘Visa’.
I don’t think that’s the reason. If there are that many people with that attitude, then why haven’t auto commercials not gone away?
Arco has had commercials in the not too distant past (for all I know they may stil be on – I don’t watch very much TV). Their gist was that Arco was considered a “top-tier” brand like Chevron and Exxon. This was obviously to counter the common perception that Arco was a low-grade gas and that no matter how cheap it was, you didn’t want it in your car. Perhaps they even found someone somewhere who listed top-tier gasolines and included Arco in the list, just in case someone asks how they can consider it to be top-tier.
My explanation for the dearth of gas advertising is that most people choose where to fill up purely by price. After all, consider that gas is the only product that newspapers routinely have articles on how much it costs, often even on the front page. So gas is seen by most people as a commodity and they have no brand loyalty.
Arco has consistently sold the lowest-priced gas in these parts for years. I usually gas up there; the nearest one is just down at the corner from us.
Just a data point. Today all of the afternoon drive-time traffic reports on the “all news all the time (except when they’re doing something else) station” were sponsored by BP. Apparently, BP with Invigorate gets your car cleaner than gas with minimum detergents. And then later tonight I saw a BP with Invigorate commercial during ABC’s Nashville.
So they haven’t totally given up on advertising.
Nah. The embargo was in '73. Oil companies advertised their products advantages strongly until the late 90’s, and after that not tapering off until just a few years ago.
So there must have been some loyalty to go after.