Image vs. Quality

Last week, James bought some chapstick at Smith's that was the cheapest on the shelf (Kroger brand). Aaron was giving him a hard time about being cheap and not paying a little more for a better product made by Chapstick. For James, I'm sure his small purchase worked just fine (although Blistex is the best), but it got me thinking. There are lots of things that we buy, but what determines which brand we get? In high school the image represented by the brands made a little bit of sense, even thought it was dumb. If you wanted to be popular, you had to have brand names on everything, which meant either you had money or your parents (or you) sacrificed everything so you could mold to the look of having money. Was the quality any better if you had Lucky jeans or Wranglers?

Personally, I think there is a difference, but is the price worth the difference. I'm not solely a brand name person, only in some areas and rarely do I go for the most expensive brand, just a conservative reputable brand. I think some of it is the image factor still (I know I'm pathetic), but some is for quality.


Here are some of my examples. When it comes to jeans, I only wear Old Navy
or Calvin Klein (bought at Costco, not in the mall) so they will cost $20-30, but still have a brand that makes me feel important. Shirts, I don't care about so much, but if shopping at DI for them, they definitely have to have a good brand like Nautica or Tommy, if it's a walmart brand I might as well buy them new at Walmart. Footwear, I really don't care, but I do go for a brand I know. Hygiene products and medicine - I usually just get the store brand and save some money. Is this because I know the quality is the same, so I'll proudly promote the cheaper price or is it because no one will see it, so I can be cheap and no one will know? Not sure, but when it comes to toothpaste, it has to be Colgate Total. With food, I'm all about store brands. In fact, we find that Western Family Honey Bunches are better than Post's actual trademarked ones.


Again, the brand of food is something hidden away, not flaunted about like clothing.

How do we know which brand to get? Is it all from good marketing? Are we good at determining good quality? What happens when our favorite company throws our money to gay rights or something like Dockers, Walmart, Ford (sold mine, converted to Chevy:) or McDonalds - do we still go there because of our love for them or do we find a substitute? Really I have no consensus on what really affects what I purchase. I definitely go for quality, but not sure if image overrides that in some things to get me to pay a bit more for something that could be cheaper. Am I completely artificial? Help me if I am : )