Every one of those things gives a business a competitive advantage over its rivals. So when one does it, all the others have to follow or die.

I like to look at it as a natural cycle of things rather than a pandemic of things - though the case can be made for either.

Hopefully, as it all decays and people get sick of it, the other side is reached, and the opposite becomes true... unless the government interferes and keeps bad businesses and industries afloat, or the industry colludes to maintain the status quo.