March 15, 2018

Which Company Do Americans Love Best?

Things are a little slow today, so let’s take a look at the 2018 Corporate Reputation Poll from Harris. First, here’s their complete list:

There are a few interesting things to note:

  • Americans really love their supermarkets. They’re all in the top 25.
  • Americans really hate their cable companies. They’re all in the bottom 25.
  • Americans really love Amazon. And Wegmans. I have some friends who were bereft when their Wegmans closed down. What’s the deal with that?
  • The Trump Organization managed to avoid the last spot. They were beat out by (a) the airbag company, (b) the sexual harassment company, (c) the clueless credit reporting company that lost everyone’s personal data to hackers, and (d) the ripoff banking company. However, they scored worse than (a) the GMO seed company, (b) the oil spill company, (c) the other clueless credit reporting company, and (d) the vampire squid company.
  • The marcom folks who created this graphic used slightly larger fonts in the first two lists, which is why all four aren’t the same size. This is poor graphic design.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at a few specific sectors. First up, car companies:

Tesla is on top, but that’s not going to last long if they can’t figure out how to manufacture the Model 3 properly. Also note that Fiat Chrysler has an even worse reputation than Volkswagen, which has been fined billions of dollars for the enormous con it pulled on its diesel cars. Nice work, Fiat! Next up is high-tech companies:

Are you surprised that Microsoft is #1? They may be boring, but apparently people think highly of them. (Amazon would be #1 if I counted them as a high-tech company, but I’m not really sure what sector they belong in these days.) Facebook, on the other hand, makes people pretty suspicious—and rightfully so.

Finally, here’s the sector where reputation is truly the coin of the realm: consumer packaged goods.

I don’t really have an explanation for any of this. Why is Kraft #1? Why is Pepsi the lowest? Do most people even know what Unilever is?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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