LONDON: McDonald's, the first food restaurant chain, is the most "hated" brand among British consumers, according to a survey by FreshMinds, the research firm, and Marketing Magazine, the industry publication.
FreshMinds conducted a poll of over 1,000 people to establish their views of certain brands, and to discover which companies were the most and least popular when contributors were unprompted.
During the first of these stages, it found that 46% of participants "hated" McDonald's, while 36% professed to "love" the US firm, and 18% did not have a strong opinion either way.
KFC and Burger King received a positive rating from 43% and 37% of respondents respectively, figures that read 38% and 39% in turn with regard to negative perceptions.
Some 45% of those polled "loved" Marmite, compared with 40% at the opposite end of the spectrum, while 14% were ambivalent.
Pepsi was considered attractive by 42% of the panel, with 30% of the sample being less favourable, while 51% held Coca-Cola in high regard, falling to 27% for the contradictory view.
By contrast, perceptions of the BBC were somewhat more neutral, with 35% being enthusiastic, 30% negative, and 36% neither one nor the other.
The financial sector performed least strongly in terms of attracting positive or negative attention, with over 70% of people holding no opinion on UBS, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan.
When respondents were asked to name three brands they hated without prompting, McDonald's was ranked first again – albeit only with a 3% share, with over 700 brands ultimately being mentioned – followed by Tesco and Coca-Cola.
Using the same system Cadbury was the most “loved” brand, with a 4% share, or 111 mentions, followed by Heinz, Sony and Marks & Spencer.
The study also found that 42% of participants either somewhat disliked or "hated" Facebook and Twitter, the social networking platforms.
Factors making a good brand included issues such as quality, reliability and trust, with good advertising also out-performing strong levels of customer service in this regard.
Negative connotations were generally attached to brands that were seen as either lacking in quality or reliability, or which did not offer good value for money.