In the first week of April, the Reputation Institute released the results of a study based on an online poll of just under 33 000 American consumers around large companies they felt they knew something about.
The results create a field very unlike that found in South Africa, and not just because the players are different. Many of the companies on the list of 150 are unknown to South African consumers: food company Sara Lee at number eight, stationary retailer Staples at number 19 and Lowe’s Home Improvement at number 21 are all household names in the US, but hardly ring a bell in SA. Other companies may have achieved similar rankings in SA.
Amazon came out tops, thanks to a huge increase in the number of people who think well of it, perhaps because of its introduction of the Kindle e-reader and its relatively swift action at public outrage after it started selling a book described as a manual for paedophiles.
Google, in ninth place, maintained a nearly stable rating, though Walt Disney, close on its heels in 10th spot, was considerably less renowned than in previous years. Only Coca-Cola appears in both the American rankings and the list of the top 30 South African advertisers.
While consumers in SA rated it the most reputable company in the group, it achieved only the 25th place on the US Reputation Institute charts, though the company may derive some comfort from the fact that PepsiCo ranked somewhat below it, in 28th position.
In the US, the bottom of the pile is heavy on financial services companies; seven of the 10 worst-rated companies deal in financial services, with only oil company ExxonMobil, oil-support company Halliburton and News Corporation, owners of the often-reviled Fox News Channel, breaking the mould.
The banks and insurance companies, unloved as they may be, were not necessarily those who were downgraded most by consumers.
Among the biggest decliners, year on year, were the likes of fast food chain McDonald’s (nearly 10%), computer maker Dell (nearly 7%) and even the popular Apple, which was 5.5% down on its performance the previous year.
The Reputation Institute’s Top 10 list
- Amazon.com
- Kraft Foods
- Johnson & Johnson
- 3M
- Kellogg’s
- UPS
- FedEx
- Sara Lee
- Google
- Walt Disney Company