•4/23/2009 11:30:00 PM
A couple of weeks ago I went to the grocery store with my dad. It was a pretty routine trip that included an excursion down the cereal aisle. We came to an agreement that some Frosted Flakes sounded good; I myself hadn't had them in a long time. They're quite delicious.
Well I automatically reached out for a box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, and I had it in my hand when I noticed my father had gone in another direction. Toward the dreaded bags of off-brand cereal.
Well, not dreaded so much as just a place I have never ventured. Don't ask me why but I ALWAYS buy name brand cereal. I never had a bad experience with bag cereal, though I don't remember ever eating it much, I just don't buy it. I never have. I can't give you a single logical reason why.
People can be very particular about what brands they buy. I am no different. There are some things where I just go for the cheapest and couldn't care less about what brand that happens to be, but some things, like cereal, HAVE to be name brand. There are other times where I always buy the off brand over the name brand because I like it better.
Like milk. I will not drink some of the national brands, like Roberts and Blue Bunny, because I think they have a weird taste. My favorite brand of milk is Wal-Mart's Great Value brand of all things. For me it is the most consistently good-tasting milk around. There are others I will drink, but that's my favorite.
For my mom, she almost always goes for the least expensive, like most moms, but when it comes to whipped topping, she always buys Cool Whip. That is a brand she is very loyal to. I was going to ask her for others, but she's asleep now. Oh well.
Oh and cream cheese: I only buy Philadelphia cream cheese. And as my mom has learned recently, I have to have Idaho potatoes. Although with that I lived there for four years so I feel I'd be unfaithful if I bought potatoes grown elsewhere.
The brand issue tends to escalate with soda. I've especially noticed this working in restaurants. While most people don't care that much, there are people for whom it is Pepsi or nothing, or Coke or nothing. I can't count how many times I've heard, "I'll have a Pepsi." "Coke OK?" "No, I'll have iced tea."
And for most of those people, if I gave them a Coke and told them it was Pepsi, they would probably be none the wiser. This came into play at one restaurant I used to work at regarding Dr. Pepper v. Mr. Pibb. We all got tired of correcting people about which one we had, so when they asked for Mr. Pibb we said OK and gave them Dr. Pepper. No one ever once said a thing to me.
What about you? What brands are non-negotiable for you?
Well I automatically reached out for a box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, and I had it in my hand when I noticed my father had gone in another direction. Toward the dreaded bags of off-brand cereal.
Well, not dreaded so much as just a place I have never ventured. Don't ask me why but I ALWAYS buy name brand cereal. I never had a bad experience with bag cereal, though I don't remember ever eating it much, I just don't buy it. I never have. I can't give you a single logical reason why.
People can be very particular about what brands they buy. I am no different. There are some things where I just go for the cheapest and couldn't care less about what brand that happens to be, but some things, like cereal, HAVE to be name brand. There are other times where I always buy the off brand over the name brand because I like it better.
Like milk. I will not drink some of the national brands, like Roberts and Blue Bunny, because I think they have a weird taste. My favorite brand of milk is Wal-Mart's Great Value brand of all things. For me it is the most consistently good-tasting milk around. There are others I will drink, but that's my favorite.
For my mom, she almost always goes for the least expensive, like most moms, but when it comes to whipped topping, she always buys Cool Whip. That is a brand she is very loyal to. I was going to ask her for others, but she's asleep now. Oh well.
Oh and cream cheese: I only buy Philadelphia cream cheese. And as my mom has learned recently, I have to have Idaho potatoes. Although with that I lived there for four years so I feel I'd be unfaithful if I bought potatoes grown elsewhere.
The brand issue tends to escalate with soda. I've especially noticed this working in restaurants. While most people don't care that much, there are people for whom it is Pepsi or nothing, or Coke or nothing. I can't count how many times I've heard, "I'll have a Pepsi." "Coke OK?" "No, I'll have iced tea."
And for most of those people, if I gave them a Coke and told them it was Pepsi, they would probably be none the wiser. This came into play at one restaurant I used to work at regarding Dr. Pepper v. Mr. Pibb. We all got tired of correcting people about which one we had, so when they asked for Mr. Pibb we said OK and gave them Dr. Pepper. No one ever once said a thing to me.
What about you? What brands are non-negotiable for you?
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3 comments:
This is such a good topic. I recently started buying the shop's-own bran flakes, which are a third of the price of all bran and I like them better (wow how boring is my cereal choice!). But my indulgent cereals are coco pops or cookie crisp, and own-brands will not do!
I will also only eat Helmann's mayo (same as Best Foods I believe), I prefer pepsi over coke but I don't refuse coke if that's all there is, Hovis bread, store-brand filled pasta & not the commercial stuff, Cadbury's chocolate (although all brands are different so that's ok right?!), umm... that's all I can think of right now. I definitely have brand loyalty for a lot of things, like I always buy the same bread, cheese, pasta, etc.
I actually think a true Pepsi or Coke fan would call you on it if you tried to serve them the wrong brand. Dr. Pepper vs. Mr. Pibb is much closer and I think it would fool most people. By the way, the bag of Frosted Flakes (non-brand) tasted just great, and was more satisfying at half the cost :)
I agree with Dad. A true Pepsi or Coke fan would absolutely know the difference. I don't care for either of them, but at my parents house, it's Pepsi and at my in-law's it's Coke and I can for sure tell between the two. But about the brands that I am picky about... Well for sure I will NEVER buy Tide (that's probably more than just pickiness though). But I LOVE Cheer and Downey and tried the off brands of both and HATED them. So never again. I'll stick with name brands. I'm also very picky about which brand of milk I buy. But lately, the brand at Smiths that I like is yucky. So now I have to find a new one. :( Oh well. We are all branded for life in one way or another, I'm sure.