I agree with you completely on the quality of chips, however I was just trying to point out that some chips are made to be used as transaction pieces, such as the Fremont 50c chip.
A chip like the Fremont 50c is used out on the casino floor to speed up the game or make the payout process more accurate, or in the cage where the chip (turned in with other chips) are easier to count than chips turned in with coins. This is where a casino would be more interested in the value of the utility of a chip over marketing value.

I would venture to say with my experience working in a casino cage that most table game customers don't pay too much attention to the chips other than the color or denomination. Only a very small percentage of the millions upon millions of customers that visit casinos yearly actively collect chips.