Generic Brand vs Name Brand

Being in the field of advertising I know a little something about selling a brand over another brand. The research and details we find to give that brand an advantage over the competition. I have never worked on any generic brands, but I know they do not put the amount of dollars into there advertising as the name brands we all know so well. Advertisers spend so much money researching and using focus groups to find out what would make the consumer buy their brands. When it comes to shopping and trying to save as much money as possible, many people skip the store brand for the more expensive name brand. Consumers might not know it, but they are spending way more money than they need, and could be saving a lot of money in the process.

Some reasons that name brand items are more expensive can be because of a higher quality of their products along with the quality control they have. While generic brands take away all the nice and thought out designs and advertising, along with a downgrade in quality, all to make the product cheaper for the consumer. 

There are products for me that I can buy generic store brand and they taste the same, have same quality, and are just as healthy as the name brand version of it. Here is a list of the top 5 Brand name items that no matter what I will not skimp on, and the top 5 products I will always try and buy generic.

5 items that I buy Name Brand:

1. Toilette paper: I don't even have to explain this one, this is simple, something I will not degrade my life with buying a cheaper generic sandpaper.

2. Ketchup: I have tried and tried and it might be mental, but I cannot find a generic brand that taste like heinz, which I love, and I don't use it often. When I do I want it to taste as good as I remember. I sometime do not enjoy restaurants if they have a weird brand or organic ketchup, I am used to heinz, so you could call me a ketchup snob.

3. Olive Oil: As far as taste goes you want to get the best and usually the most expensive, even though I do not purchase the most expensive I always look for the middle of the road brand, and always look for the darkest which is the bases of what is good olive oil.

4. Potato/Tortilla Chips: For the most part generic brand chips are less healthy and do not taste good, I  enjoy getting a higher price brand like kettle chips and such that dont seem as greasy as the generic. Generic brand tortilla chip always seem to taste like cardboard so I always try and avoid those when I can.

5. Shampoo and most other beauty products: I am allergic to certain shampoos and other beauty products, if I use a cheaper brand that has different ingredients, it makes me break out so I don't really have a choice in the matter.

5 items that I will buy generic:

1. Sparkling water: We love sparkling water in our house and instead of purchasing the name brand water, we try and always purchase the store brand generic seltzer water which taste exactly they same, and sometimes they have more flavors.

2. Yogurt: Going target, I have fallen in love with pretty much all their store brand products, I actually prefer the Archer Farms target brand better than the name brand one. The taste is better and it is just as healthy as the name brand.

3. Mustard: As I will not buy anything except name brand on ketchup, I will buy store brand mustard all day long. For whatever reason I cannot tell the taste difference at all.

4. Cheese: Again with Target brands I cannot tell a difference between a generic and name brand so I always purchase the store brand shredded cheese.

5. Trail mix and bars: See above cannot tell a difference and they way cheaper than a name brand.

The list could go on and on with the generic brands winning out, I feel we save a ton of money with shopping at Target and buying mostly generic brands, even though I still will not compromise on some items, we do very well overall. Which products do you refuse to purchase generic brands with? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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