by Tricia
Just because a product has a famous name on it, does it make it that much better? Not usually. Some of the products that have a well-known brand name are really just other products under a different label and some are even made by the same manufacturer as generic versions.
If you think about it, it makes sense that brand names are more expensive. They advertise more! That’s why you can see a logo and be able to tell what brand it is associated with. The swirls of Coke…the swish of Nike. We see tons of ads a day and that costs A LOT of money. So brand name products cost more to recoup the company’s advertising costs.
Whereas, the generic “no-name” brands do not advertise. They do not spend thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars perfecting the graphics on their packaging. They basically put out a product as inexpensively as they can and they pass the savings onto you.
Okay, there are sometimes differences with the taste of generic versus name brand. One thing I can think of is store brand mac & cheese versus Kraft mac & cheese. The Kraft version generally does taste “cheesier.” Personally, though, I like the more muted taste of the generic when made with the right amount of milk and margarine. So sometimes it is personal preference that needs to “rule” when deciding what product to purchase.
All things considered, we are largely a generic household. The only real exception would be when the brand-named items are on sale and they cost less than the generic. But overall, we are pretty happy with the bland packaging but not so bland taste of generic items. In fact, sometimes I think they taste better.
If you are willing, give generics a try and see if they work for you.
