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How much do brand names matter?

Brand names... sometimes it's just a name- a reason to charge extra money for something that can be found in the same quality, albeit logo-less.

Other times, it's synonymous with a certain quality or type of product. For me, I have mixed feelings on brand name foods. Velveeta has a very distinct flavor vs. an off brand.

Do brand names matter to you? If so, what are some of the times you really look for a specific brand?

silvereyes 8 Jan 26
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43 comments

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5

Simply put, no. I buy mostly generic organic, non-GMO, fresh and frozen.

5

Not at all...I don't even pay attention to brand names, but the cost, for the most part....I find that brand names rarely prove to be that much better than their counterparts....in fact, I just got an off brand of nutella which was really good....

4

Every time I see a certain shade of orange, I get an overwhelming craving for a Reese's cup.

4

I'm like you @silvereyes. For some things, it REALLY matters. For others, not so much. But, that has not always been the case. It's only been in the last five years or so that I'm able to do store brand or the less popular brand for SOME things -- like Persil laundry liquid soap (rated #1 by Consumer Reports), paper plates, butter, regular cheeses, OTC meds.

A few of my absolutes -- because I CAN tell the difference and learned the hard way:
Heinz ketchup
Best Foods/Hellman's mayo
Daisy sour cream
Oroweat or Dave's Killer Bread
Ziploc storage bags
Heinz or French's mustard
Steamfresh frozen vegetables
Rosarita or Old El Paso refried beans
Yoplait yogurt
Dawn dish detergent

3

I've heard that Bently is a nice brand of car.

LOL! Totally not my style though. Even with five million in the bank earning interest, I wouldn't dream of buying a Bentley.

3

I rarely purchase brand names unless I find one at a thrift store, garage sale, yard sale or flea market. All my grocery shopping is for store brands.

3

Velveeta is not real food as far as I am concerned, even though I grew up eating it. When I was eating store bought I ate only Skippy Peanut Butter, liked the flavor so much more. For the past 5 or so years I've tried to eat food closer to how it occurs in nature rather than boxed and processed food. Ingredient lists are scary reading.

True -- but Velveeta does improve the creamy consistency of macaroni and cheese -- one of my absolute favorite dishes.

On that note, I'd have to be starving to DEATH to eat the individually wrapped Kraft singles that are nothing more than checmicals, in MY opinion.

@BlueWave Yeah, the singles should be banned. I eat real cheese if I eat cheese.

I'm pretty sure that I have never had Velveeta.

Who remembers Cheez Whiz? lol

@shockwaverider you may be healthier for it.

@shockwaverider I don't understand how that's possible. Have you never gone to a PotLuck? I think it's legally required that at least 3 dishes contain Velveeta.

@JeffMurray I grew up in Vancouver, BC where Velveeta was pretty much non-existent. I've lived in similar areas on the West Coast most of my life. I may have been in something I ate I suppose, but I would not knowingly eat it.

@shockwaverider But Cheddar is lumpy and oily.

3

Brand names matter now a bit to me. It is the quality of the individual product. Consistancy is a good thing, if I find a product I like I tend to keep buying it, regardless of the brand or any other products made under that name.

2

With the exception of Gold Medal Flour, I hardly ever by a brand name product, from toilet paper to frozen pizza. Nearly all your store brand items are made in the same factories as generics. The reason the cost less is they don't have to cover advertising costs. Now, yes, I've been disappointed with some generics. But at least at Kroger stores, there are often several off-label choices, and once I find which is the one I like, I stick to it. Their french bread pizzas, for example, cost $1. They actually have more toppings than the Stouffer's do, $4 for 2. It's half the price.

The Gold Medal Flour? Well, I wrote them after my parents had a fire in the home and mom lost all her pantry cookbooks. A family favorite was a holiday cookie recipe collection she got from a bag of flour in the early 1970's. I wrote to see if they still had it in 2006. It took them 6 months, but one day I got a call from General Mills. Someone found it for me. Best gift I ever gave my mom (she said I didn't give her a gift, I gave a memory). That, to me, is worth a couple extra bucks when I make my cookies,

What a beautiful story, @ravnostic! It makes me want to be loyal to Gold Medal as well. 🙂

2

Brand names don't matter much to me. Usually the same quality exists in an off brand. In fact, sometimes the same product is the off brand. (When there was a recall on peanut butter several years ago, it was specifically Peter Pan peanut butter and a particular off brand. This isn't to say that Peter Pan is all that great, but it illustrates a point: Manufacturers often produce more than they can sell directly, with the extra being sold under a generic or store-brand label. This allows them to continue making profit, even though it's a lower margin than when they sell directly.) When I have nothing better to do, I'll sometimes compare the location on product labels to see which ones match up, suggesting that they're really the same product. With that said, I have found that some foods are generally better as the brand name, like Doritos and Cheetos. Occasionally I'll find an off brand that's not bad, but usually the flavor is off and the food will cause mild digestive distress. With non-food items, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes paying a little bit more for the brand name makes a huge difference in quality. This seems to be common with cleaning products. Oh, and clothing! I've got to stop buying clothes at Walmart, no matter how convenient it seems. The quality is almost always lacking, where garments wear out quickly or shirts shrink. Paying twice as much for better quality usually pays off in terms of much greater durability.

@silvereyes Yep, tech is a big one. There's a huge difference between getting a good deal and getting something cheaply.

About 10 years ago there were several free after mail-in rebate blank DVDs on Black Friday. I bought so many that I have yet to need to buy any. Anyway, there were some generic ones that had the exact same PO Box listed on the MIR form as the Memorex ones.

2

I've found, as far as quality, I just prefer to not go with the bottom barrel option, I don't necessarily need the best option. As for preference or taste, it totally depends.

2

Most of the food I consume is locally grown, fresh (organic) produce. the few times when brand matters to me is more about the actual content than brandname, like toothpaste, shampoo, or the non-content of sugar in curry paste or mustard, etc. no, brand names don't matter much.

2

In food is a matter of taste versus healthy. Whatever you trust or you are looking for. I am a Pepsi not coke guy. In electronics I always say brand number 2 is as good as brand number 1 but in brand number 1 you are paying a premium for being nr 1 so I always choose nr 2. About cheese... I like flavor on cheese.

2

Like it or not everything has a brand name. Republican or Democrat? Coke or Pepsi? Straight or LGBTQ? We have all some kind of brand.

Hmmmm.....so meanwhile, back at the ranch. Do brand name PRODUCTS matter to you, Eric?

@BlueWave I think they matter to everyone at some level. Why do they matter? This is more the question . I don't have a satisfactory answer. Something to do with our psychological need to belong, I think. I wish I had a less trite answer.

@silvereyes name branding works on some subliminal level on everyone. Even those who avoid name brands are still being affected by branding. To choose against a better known name brand merely attaches a similar loyalty to the lesser brand.

@EricTrommater Wow.....uhm....okay, Eric. That was fun. Just kidding, it wasn't. 🙂

1

ALDI's Clancy's Rippled Potato Chips in the yellow and blue bag are the best potato chips in the entire world and have destroyed every competitor I've ever seen them go up against in a blind taste test. I do A LOT of blind taste tests. I think it's because I seem to be surrounded by a lot of brand whores that need to have this shit proved to them. My mom even claims that even after her national brand lost when she couldn't see them, that when she can see which is which she likes her name brand better. How fucked is that?

1

DIE HARD ALDI FAN right here. But that doesn't mean I don't objectively evaluate the products I buy. There are several products that ALDI has copied that do not stack up to the national brand in blind taste tests, so I still buy the national brand. It's purely based on a quality/cost ratio though. Some products are almost as good as national but half the price, so it's worth the loss of quality. I buy NOTHING simply for the name though (including clothes).

1

My cereal has to be Honey Bunch of Oats...and soda the real Coca- Cola.....other than that cannot think of anything

1

There is a website called brandless, if you wanna check that out. I haven't bought anything from them, just letting you know there are movements to remove brands and just sell "Organic peas" or "Potato crisps" instead of Dole and Pingles.

Isn't "Brandless" in essence just the brand name then?? What am I missing?

Kind of like wholefoods and trade joes have store brands, yes lol

1

Just like you said, it depends. When I have a chance to buy a box of no name or lesser known name of 250 tissues for $1 instead of a box of Kleenex with 250 for $4 then I get the no name every time.

When it comes to electronics, I only try to buy the best. Name brands are usually the best quality and last longer.

Yeah, that's a good point. Western Digital Black. I have had several inexpensive HDs take a shit on me, and when that happens, you don't just lose the cost of the device.

1

I prefer generic items

1

Usually I don't pay much attention to brand names, unless it's something that I've already settled on. For example, living in America's Dairyland, the very best cheese is found at a cheese factory, where the brand tends to be specific to the factory itself. On the other hand, you can't find Velveeta at a cheese factory.

In some cases, after trying a few brands, including store brands, I settle on a brand that I like. The advantage of big brands is that you can find them at most any store, where a store brand tends to be specific to a particular store or store chain. Of course, the disadvantage of big brands is that part of what you're paying for is the brand -- it typically costs more than the store brand.

Brand names I've used for years include Miracle Whip, Oscar Meyer (especially bacon,) and when I used to drink it had to be Jack Daniel's Old No. 7. Also, every single computer I have used for the last 15+ years has been a Dell. I am far less tied to a brand for things like mustard, bottled water, coffee, TV dinners, etc.

So, I guess, it really depends on what it is, but I don't typically go for a brand name simply for the fact that it's a national brand.

1

I tend to be very loyal to certain household and personal products because I'm allergic to floral scents, and it's harder than you'd think to find things without it (for instance, I can enjoy the scent of oranges, but not of orange blossoms).

Food is another matter. I'll try off-brand products for everyday use, but I'm fussier with my baking. Once upon a time I made a cheesecake (which I had made many times before and since) for an event and used store-brand cream cheese ... and it didn't firm up. It also didn't melt well in a dip. So I stick to experimenting when it doesn't matter, but I'm loyal to Philly Brand when it does matter.

1

I agree about Velveeta. It is brand-specific to me. If that's what I want, nothing else will do.
Overall, I don't rely on brands too much. Although, I have found out the hard way that not all generics are created equal. I've also learned that many of the store brands are equal to their brand-name counterparts. Publix brand items are definitely a good example of this.

@silvereyes Oh hell yes! It's the shit, for sure! Their green tea is good, too.

1

When it comes to tools, Stanley brand has a good reputation, so I feel more comfortable buying those tools. Same with Honda cars. I trust them more than most others, because their reputation sits well with me. If a brand has religious connotations, I will most likely stay away from it. When it comes to food, certain brands tend to taste better than others. When it comes to clothing, I couldn't care less.

1

Quality is number one. If the brand name has the best quality than I will get it. If I find a no name brand with the same or higher quality than I will try the no name brand.

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