Debate: Are Private Labels fair for consumers?

In all of the categories Private Labels have entered, they are either leaders, or growing faster than the category. Private labels extend their retail name to a brand, transferring the confidence placed by their consumers as a retail store. Besides this, they tweak a couple of other very important variables to achieve success: price and shelf space and location. They will occupy the hottest shelf space and place the category leader right besides them. Then they advertise (with in-store publicity) that their price is lower.

It has proven, without a doubt, to be a successful strategy for the retail stores. Consumers are buying more of these brands than many other brands.

How fair is this for a consumer?