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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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'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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....