Amazon continues to claim top spot in Harris reputation poll, Apple plummets to 29th

In the annual poll that measures the reputations of various major companies, Apple has dropped all the way to 29th, after years in the top five.

The Harris Poll's Reputation Quotient survey, which is meant to measure "the public's top of mind awareness of companies who either excelled or faltered in society," this year ranks Amazon first, followed by Wegman's, Tesla Motors, Chick-fil-A and The Walt Disney Company. Microsoft is ranked 11th and Netflix is 20th, with Apple dropping all the way to 29th, one spot behind Google. There are 100 companies in the survey in total.

Amazon has taken the top spot in the survey in four of the last five years. Apple was in second place in 2016 and fifth in 2017. Google has also traditionally ranked much higher.

The Reputation Quotient measures perceptions of companies in six categories: Social responsibility, vision and leadership, financial performance, products and services, emotional appeal and workplace environment. It surveyed 25,800 adults, all in the U.S. across ethnic, geographic, educational, and occupational breakdowns.

The survey itself doesn't much get into the "why" of different companies' performance, but in an interview with Reuters, Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema said that he believes Apple and Google dropped in the survey because the two companies "have not introduced as many attention-grabbing products as they did in past years."

The bottom five are rounded out by auto parts maker Takata Corporation, The Weinstein Company, Equifax, Wells Fargo & Company, and the Trump Organization.

22 Comments

deminsd 143 comments · 7 Years

About 6 years ago

OUCH! Seems a bit meaningless, though, when people can't help tripping over each other to get the latest i-gadget.

entropys 4292 comments · 13 Years

"Social responsibility, vision and leadership, financial performance, products and services, emotional appeal and workplace environment."
sounds like it would suffer from a lack of objectivity. Apple has certainly had some execution and product misses lately, but it is hard to see how Amazon would do well out of any of those.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

entropys said:

Apple has certainly had some execution and product misses lately, but it is hard to see how Amazon would do well out of any of those.

"Hey Alexa, make sure that I give Amazon five hundred votes on any survey"

[Deleted User] 0 comments · 11 Years

entropys said:

"Social responsibility, vision and leadership, financial performance, products and services, emotional appeal and workplace environment."
sounds like it would suffer from a lack of objectivity. Apple has certainly had some execution and product misses lately, but it is hard to see how Amazon would do well out of any of those.

To the average consumer, myself included, any dealings I've had with them have been exemplary - truly hassle-free returns, out-of-warranty issues, generally unbeatable prices (and when they are beat, they often price-match), instant responses to ANY queries, just a general feeling that they will bend over backwards to please you - I've not experiences many other companies that do such things. The dark side of amazon isn't often publicised, unlike the media's tendency to jump on anything anti-apple.

airnerd 688 comments · 13 Years

entropys said:

"Social responsibility, vision and leadership, financial performance, products and services, emotional appeal and workplace environment."
sounds like it would suffer from a lack of objectivity. Apple has certainly had some execution and product misses lately, but it is hard to see how Amazon would do well out of any of those.

This feels more like a popularity and 'what have you done for me lately' type survey. I'm sure "free" two day shipping is valued more than cell phones, which has become a basic utility for most. Not saying that is right or fair, but more people get a positive view of Amazon on a daily basis than they realize how well their phone/tablet/watch/earphones/speaker are working.