Ah, I see. Sarcasm often doesn't come across in a post. But yes, I was surprised by your post, because it didn't sound like your usual position. I should have suspected sarcasm.

But I disagree with you. Bell Labs was adequate branding for C and Unix, but not for Limbo or Plan 9. Sun's branding (and relentless support) was necessary for Java, but who did the same for Python, Perl, or Ruby?

It's not just the branding or the marketing. Sooner or later, how well the language enables you to write programs has an effect on language popularity and uptake.

Programmers aren't just fashion-driven sheep led around by marketing departments. They actually use the languages, and they can in fact tell when the language makes things easier or harder.