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....

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

They don’t.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”

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.

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.