Right! Even in the 90s this doesn't make sense. If The New Kids on the Block had sold branded Oreos, they would have flown off the shelves. There have always been mainstream pop culture figures with dedicated fandoms that don't care whether they have "sold out".

But I do think there is a real difference here. I just think it's a media difference. It's true that in the 90s (and I would say longer than that) culture writers would pretty universally scoff at "sellouts" and lionize auteurs. But those gatekeepers have lost all their power to control the message. I think that's the real difference.