Velveeta Fanboys Beat Out Apple Fanboys?

from the good-cover-for-Sony-and-Dell dept

The utterly perplexing ‘Best Brands’ poll is out, and for the seventh straight year, Sony comes at the #1 spot. This is of course in spite of last year’s rootkit DRM saga, in which the company compromised the security of customer computers. Coming in at the #2 slot is Dell, which has taken numerous hits to its reputation in the last year over things like customer service and product quality. So does this mean that people just don’t care about this stuff, and that those of us who track these things are just totally out of touch with the way most people think? The likely answer is that the poll is flawed and meaningless. One only need to look at the market to conclude that Apple (#10) probably should be higher than HP (#7) or that Google and Nike should be somewhere on the list. And, though it comes in at #9, you don’t see many Kraft fanboys out there. So, unless these surveys can produce results that square with reality, the concept of best brand will continue its slide into meaninglessness.


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Comments on “Velveeta Fanboys Beat Out Apple Fanboys?”

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29 Comments
mp says:

I don’t understand your logic. Being a great brand is about having fanboys? Or it’s about people buying your brand without even CONSIDERING another one? Because that’s how people feel about brands like Kraft. It IS macaroni and cheese. You definitely see people who are anti-Apple. Do you see a lot of people who are anti-Kraft? I don’t think so.

slide23 says:

HPonline sucks...

So, HPonline conducted this survey (try RTFA before responding). Whenever I have taken one of these HPonline brand surveys, it was annoying beyond all belief. I finally started answering falsely, just BECAUSE it was pissing me off.

The large print giveth and the fine print taketh away: “All surveys are subject to several sources of error. … With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite “margin of error” for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.”

And finally, for those of you that have taken any statistics classes, you probably know: “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Topher3105 (profile) says:

The survely looks like this

What do you like most?

A) Sony

B) Getting a root canal without pain killers

C) Getting an enema

D) Getting kicked in the nuts

The problem is that while Sony won the poll and got the “Best Brand” reputation, it only got 30% of the votes.

What this means is that Sony is COMPLETELY in the wrong business and just proves that they have no idea what their customers want.

People can come up with statistics to prove anything. Forty percent of all people know that.

Insaniac says:

Simple Question

Quick question…a little off topic, but noteworthy nonetheless. Who decided that the word ‘fanboy’ was okay to use? Is this a common term (dear god i hope not) for someone a little into their favorite brand or was it forged specifically for this post? The word just strikes an image of a half-crazed man wetting himself inside the Mr. Peanut costume he’s wearing because he finally found the missing Planters collectible that will complete his collection of mixed nuts tins. Is anybody else with me on this, or is the word fanboy really the word that fits best?

Real Man says:

Re: Simple Question

I think it fits for any one who cares enough to get emotional over any intimate object or a company. I think Topher would be a fanboy. He is at least a fanboy with his insane ranting about Sony. Its a company that needs to make profit. It is not evil or tries to harm people. Capitalism is not bad and because someone makes money is not bad. You may not like their products which is fine, but obviously many, many people do. If you like something buy it, don’t preach about it. If you don’t like something, don’t buy it and don’t preach about it. Lets keep things rational.

hoozyadaddy says:

Your reasoning is flawed. You’re assuming that everyone who could possibly have been asked to take the poll is aware of the Sony rootkit fiasco and so they shouldn’t place on this poll, ergo the poll is “flawed and meaningless”.

Outside of the tech press and a few blogs, the rootkit debacle really wasn’t paid attention too very much. It didn’t make much of a dent in Sony’s overall reputation. If anything, it increase Sony’s overall brand awareness.

sickboy76 (user link) says:

mac-n-cheese over macs please

of coarse kraft won. it is the best… especially if you are all day working on computers and want something you can make fast for dinner. and it’s like $2 and your full. everyone knows the brand. mac, now that’s not so good. some people hate mac. and that’s just out of the fraction of the world that cares about computers. kraft is known by computer users as well as those who don’t give two shits about a computer. my grandma knows kraft, but wouldn’t know what the f a logo of an apple with a bite out of it was. that’s why they win. hp. they’ve been around for years and years. they made freakin calculators that are still sought after by collectors. printers galore. they work with mac and pc. so of coarse they win over mac. who cares that mac is so low anyway. some dick head with an ipod who thinks he is so cool bc of the sweet comercial he saw telling him if he got it he would be cool too. or because he saw puff daddy with an ipod on mtv cribs. so what. apple blows. their computers stink and they now have to boast that they can run windows to get people to take them seriously, and to run more software. more people know microsoft than mac, even if it is just bc they have heard about bill gates and all of his law suits. hate him or not, it didn’t get mentioned as most recognized. be happy apple got noted at least. even though they suck like the gap and starbucks. throw out the ipod and get an mp3 player that works with anything… mac sucks.

P*ssed off says:

all polls suck!

I had this crazy girly asking me one day if i was the freagin lady of the house! GDI my voice is like int eh 500hz range and she’s asking me this?!?!

Anyway she was so friggin biased that she was wondering whether I (so called lady of the house) (didnt want to subject wife to this horror) was concerned if TV ratings were too lax.

Well if you’re asking a lady then they obviously are going to (*majority) believe that their too lax!

What guy thinks they too lax?

P*ssed off says:

IF YOU USE A MAC GET OFF THIS FRIGGIN SITE!

Ok rant over

Hate macs love microsoft

Hated the microsoft monopoly court case

Hate Apple

Hate steve jobs

(Yes hating is legal)(If it bugs you then officially I said strongly dislike)

Hate iPods

Love iRivers

(iRiver was FIRST, FRIGGIN APPLE TOLE THE FRIGGIN “I”)

Told you I was pissed

Hate imacs

Hate iBooks

Hate G4,G3,G2,G1 proccessors

Love intel

HAte ATI

Love nVidia

Hate Dell (STRONGLY)

Hp “ok”

nice printers from them

Lexmark Rox

Love voodoo,Alienware(though I havnt bought one)

(build my own sexy babes)(substitute babe for computer if you don’t get it)

Kelly clarkson is nice

Keira Knightley is hot

Ok this is getting random

nunya_bidness says:

Take My Poll

Most% of people do not know Macs are computers and Windows is an operating system. Each product has it’s place and comparing the two is ridiculous. Now Macs can even run Windows and Linux, so some people are going to probably start calling Macs, Windows’ or Linuxes. I have to laugh at the ignorant haters that pop up when some popularity contest threatens their favorite product. Use whater suits your needs, and direct your wasted energy towards some useful purpose. For the record PC’s and Macs average price are about the same these days and the word fanboy, I think,(50% sure)came to popularity in the mid to late 90’s.

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