I'm the worst consumer on the planet. All the brand name stuff that matters to me, I don't really have money to buy, like Tesla or lots of Apple merchandise. I could give a shit what anything else is apart from the way it functions.

Peter Pan peanut butter is different from Jif peanut butter. My regular grocer stopped stocking Peter Pan, so I had to go searching. I found a decent substitute in a store brand at another grocer. Lands End shirts. Polo Ralph Lauren boxers. Levi jeans. Ghirardelli dark chocolate. I find store brands usually taste a little different due to cutting corners in production in order to lower cost by not putting as much of one ingredient or the other into the recipe.

not that much really. I do a bit of research myself. generally, i think really cheap is a false economy and a really expensive named brand is just snobbery like £300 trainers/sneakers are crazy just because of a name.

If I find something cheaper and its of equal quality, I will dump a brand like a hot potato. If there is a quality generic, I will buy that. I may pay more for something made locally or made in the USA

Strictly case-by-case.

Sometimes it's because you know the product is well-made, reliable, durable, etc. Usually this is clothes for me.

Sometimes it's because something in particular suits you like no no other, like with the fit of shoes or flavor of soda.

Sometimes it's because you like the politics of the company and want to give them your business.

Sometimes its a constellation of factors and sometimes you're whittled down to one option, like my grocery store only carrying one variety of peanut butter that does not contain palm oil (oil palm agriculture kills orangutans, y'all).

Sometimes it's just some weird, pseudo-superstition or nostalgia. These get passed down in families, especially re food.

I mostly only care about brands as a way to identify those products I can trust to be worth the money. Usually that means durability, sometimes it's ethics.

They don't except when they are clearly better. I'll try the generic or store brand and keep buying it if it's the same quality as the brand name.

Brand names tried and tested over many years... Schweppes tonic (far better) vs Canada Dry, American beer (tasteless) vs Euro, American micro brewers far superior to Andheiser, Coors, Miller... (my taste)
I find high end Italian and English shoes (on sale) much better quality than most shoes from Asia, Spain, S A., so few American shoe mfg (SAS, Neil M, Allan Edmunds) their products are more comfortable, longer lasting and worth a few dollars more.
Electronics... so confusing, I’ve read there are only 3 or 4 TV mfrs making 20/30 different brands world wide, same with kitchen appliances.
So... guess I’m “brand conscious”, I do buy cheap bread at Trader Joe’s... read labels, avoid most synthetics (clothing)... reference “snob post”

I only look for specific brands if I've acquired and gotten satisfaction from that name brand before, or if someone I trust implicitly recommends the brand to me.

The North Face
LL Bean
Pensy’s

Good quality. Great warranty.

I buy good cheese, drinks, and cake. Lol. I buy a lot of things. Most are of medium to high quality. Why have to keep buying things, when you could pay a bit more for a great product? If it has a good warranty, I’ll want that product over others.

Sometimes name brand stuff is only worth the brand. For instance, Fred Meyer (department/grocery store) brand blank dvds are the same dvds that Sony puts their name on. Which one will I buy? The cheaper one.

With food, brand doesn't matter, I can usually cook a high quality meal with off-brand items.

Technology is a different matter but that also changes per item;

• Phone - Android(Samsung and Motorola), I hate iPhones(yet work with them daily)
• Laptop/Computer - Apple for the tech savvy and Windows(but not Acer hardware) for everyone else(I have both but prefer the Mac-book when programming)
• Blu-ray Player - Sony
• TV - LG

Just to name a few.

Some I try to boycott, like Nestle. ( Trump Hotel anyone? Um, beside the point) In cars I'm pretty eclectic, have owned Fiat, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Triumph (what's that? is that a brand?) Ford and Vauxhaul - that one was the only one I would have avoided since. My latest car a Peugeot Diesel 306, just getting the hang of it. I like driving. I like cars that start and take me from A to B, and some do it in style and luxury. Oh, and have have driven cars better than the ones I ever owned, Mercedes, BMW ... yea, nice. But so were most of my cars.

I love my Yum Earth gummy bears, they're not GMO. If I want something sweet yum !!
No generic for me because is not available.

They don't with food. I can make the cheap taste like gold.. Clothes.. wife is name brand. Tires batteries oil dodge jeep... that's it.

Sometimes they do, and other times..........not so much. Things that definitely need to be nae brand include:

Ben & Jerry's Ice cream. Maine has a wealth of premium ice cream makers have been eating B & J for over 35 years and have watched them "bury" favorite flavors and then create new favorites. That is currently Truffle Kerfuffle.

There are some serious wine snobs out there but it doesn't have to be THE name brand, and some wines are all hype. Long ago I was training to be a sommelier and had a liking for Monsieur Henri wines. Then I realized I just like bordeaux.

While I don't necessarily take to the whole Wisconsin cheese thing, having lived in Vermont for years, I developed a liking for Cabot cheeses and in Maine they are readily available. Fine with me.

Maple Syrup is a food item where the criterion is REAL. Corn syrup items like gag Vermont Maid or Aunt Jemima have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on any real maple syrup from Vermont, Maine or Canada. If you have never tried it and do; you will curse that ti took so long.

Last stop.......hot dogs. I've eaten all kinds and Mainers seem to really like red snap dogs. For my money, NOTHING beats a good grilled Hebrew National Beef Frank!

At the core of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle is Phaedrus’ quest for quality. It seems to me that quality is inextricably linked to logic.

They don’t.

It all depends on where or what you are doing with brand names, as they say, you get what you pay for. I shop at ALDE's grocery and found some very comparable items to brand names.. but it really boils down to taste. Clothing, I could care less about.. I get whats on sale. Sometimes all you really are buying is the brand name.

Having experienced manufacturing I have some experience about this. Most not all generic products are made by name brand out fits. Costco is a good example diapers made my Kimberly Clark that make name brand also make Costco diapers. Costco brand vitamin made by Centrum Silver. Best thing to do is read labels. My dad was a chemist retired now he always told me the same raw materials are used in all prodicts. He used shampoo for instance the same material that makes a 2$ bottle of shampoo is the same in an expensive bottle.