After a (hopefully cleared up) little misunderstanding in the what kind of computer poll, I’ve decided to open a thread to talk about loyalty to certain brands.
Obviously some products you can only get from one brand (Coke - not the best example, but you get the idea), while others you have many choices to pick from (Kleenex, Puffs, etc). This thread is to ask what the various brand loyalties people have.
I find that I tend to be pretty darn brand indifferent. Except that bread has to be Mrs. Baird’s (my grandpa worked there for 50 years), and my soy sauce has to be kikkoman (it just tastes better).
Any Hershey’s afficianados? Anybody refuse to drive a non-Honda car? Won’t use a walkman that isn’t Sony? Buy a computer that isn’t Dell? Apple? Let us know.
Snotrags—Kleenex
Saltines—Premium
Mozzarella—Polly-O
Feta—Athenos
Dishwashing detergent—Cascade
Hot sauce—McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce (though other hot sauces serve other purposes; it’s a complex issue, really.)
Salad dressing—Annie’s Naturals
Butter—Land o’ Lakes
Orange juice—Tropicana
Olive oil—Filipo Bertillo
Oatmeal—Quaker
Ginger ale—Canada Dry
Back in the days when I used ketchup on a regular basis, I preferred Heinz. I used to eat peanut butter and jelly, too, and I preferred Skippy and Smuckers, respectively. Still, I’m willing to change brands if I find something significantly better. Otherwise I’ll stick to what I grew up with. Many of these brand loyalties come from familiarity with certain brands I grew up with. I still like looking at certain packages, like the Quaker Oats box or the shiny green Cascade box. They’re evocative.
What’s this? As close as Canada they have actual brand choices for Cream Cheese? Here in New Engalnd my only choices are Philadelphia Brand (owned by Kraft, I think) or store brand (plus the odd crunchy hippy variety). Grrrrr…
Anyway, most products I am flexible about. A few I am very rigid about, though:
Ketchup: Heinz
Peanut Butter: Jif Creamy
Mayonnaise: Hellmans/Best Foods
Dish Soap: Dawn (the blue kind)
Tonic Water: Schweppes
Gin: Tanqueray
Gum: Trident Original
I think I’m pretty brand loyal, so the list could easily get awfully long. Given a great sale I’ll usually change on alot of items though. Here are a few exceptions where only on kind will do.
Kraft Sliced Cheeses (never the skim stuff)
Kraft Mac & Cheese (only the dry kind)
Heinz Ketchup
B&M Baked Beans
Hormel Chili with Beans
Kikkoman Soy & Teriaki Sauces
Budweiser & Bud Light Beer (when I’m stocking the cheap and domestic stuff)
Mentadent Toothpaste
Mac & Cheese must be Kraft Deluxe.
Margarine must be Country Crock.
Beer must be Old Style.
Cigarettes must be Marlboro.
Shampoo must be Pantene.
Dryer sheets must be Bounce.
Cream Cheese must be Philadelphia.
Pizza Sauce must be Pastorelli.
Dog Biscuits must be Milkbone.
Dog Food must be Dog Chow.
Tomato sauce/paste must be Contadina.
All else must be on sale.
I’m not too brand conscious. There are brands I buy habitually because I know that they’re cheapest and of good quality. I’m very fond of the Wegman’s store brand, for example, because it’s usually quite good. But if something else is cheaper, I’m happy to try it.
Mac ‘n’ cheese is definitely an exception. What heavenly magic has Kraft managed to harness that makes theirs so good when everything else totally sucks?
My hubby insists on Skippy peanut butter–I couldn’t care less.
I only like Ivory dish soap–everything else has a funny smell to me.
Swiss Miss is the only good plain hot cocoa mix (excluding the “gourmet” stuff). All the other plain kinds have that nasty powdered milk taste.
I usually only buy Levi’s jeans, not because I set out to buy them, but because they usually turn out to be the only ones that have the right fit and look to them.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I only buy Purina Cat Chow. I’ll risk feeding myself on generic, but since my cat only eats one thing, it had better be the right thing. And it’s recommonded by top breeders, eh? I get whatever kitty litter’s on sale, though.
Oh, yeah, I’m very picky about sanitary products. My mother always used to get whatever was cheapest, and I shudder to recall the pain and horror this caused me as an adolescent. Now that I’m a grown-up, I only buy Always Ultra-Plus and Tampax. Comparison shoppers will note that these are always the most expensive brands on the shelf, but this is one area of my life in which I am willing to pay whatever it takes for convenience, performance and reliability. (Still, I stock up whenever there’s a sale. )
Amen on the above, Sue . I ran out of Soya sauce about two months ago and the store I went to was out of China Lily and I tried another brand ::shudder::. it didn’t even taste like Soya Sauce, so the next day I went to another store and bought me a bottle of China Lilly. Anybody want a bottle of Soya Sauce, only used once
Keith
I’m a bargain shopper at the grocery store, and I even have my little coupon folder straining at the seams to prove it. My Saturday morning trip to the store probably takes double the time of a normal person because as I’m going through my list, I stop at whatever’s on sale, then I check to see if I have a coupon for it. So, no, I’m not very brand-loyal except for a few things:
Philidelphia Cream Cheese
C & H Sugar (I only use cane sugar)
Danish Creamery Butter (for everyday use)
Plugra Butter (for baking)
Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice
Knudsen Cottage Cheese & Sour Cream
I haven’t had a walkman in a while, but when I did, I refused to buy anything that wasn’t Sony. Every other brand made walkmans that would last a couple months, then the audio would go out in one ear. If you bought a new pair of headphones for them, they might work for a day or two, then back to the same old shit.
Sony never played that game, though. Theirs were always top-notch. Note that things may have changed in the 4 or 5 years since my experiences, but somehow I doubt it.
