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We know that, and they know that, but its still crucial to keep up the mechanisms of being honest,etc.

Consider the jewellery chain in the UK that sold cheap junk. Customers knew it, and the company knew, but everything was profitable until the CEO explicitly said the wares were junk. Then the sales went into free-fall.

I sort of view them like politicians: grab bags of stinky stuff, and some bits of professed policy which I might find useful in narrow contexts. In that regard, they can be value-ranked, and value-rankings within demographic groups can be brand managed.

It's not necessarily that they believe that. It's that they desperately need their marketing material to represent that. Quite probably because they realize it's a potential weakness in their image.