With social media on the rise, internet advertising feels absolutely inescapable.
With our newsfeeds peppered with ads, more social media influencers turning to user-generated content opportunities, and ads pausing our video-watching experiences, ads are seriously everywhere.
After seeing some companies and brands over and over again, we're less likely to support them, just on principle. They're like the Top 40 songs we hate on the radio because of the frequent replays.
Redditor bethebumblebee was ready to call some brands out when they asked:
"What is one brand that you'll never buy from?"
Immediately No
"The ones that constantly pay YouTube channels to do spots for them. It just makes me very suspicious of their quality. Raycon is a good example."
- RahvinDragand
Morally Questionable
"Better Help is a huge one that I think Youtube channels need to step away from. It’s not a product, I guess, but it’s still a service that’s sponsored by a lot of large content creators. I haven’t used it but i’ve read endless things about how awful it is."
"I got a list of therapists from my doctor and by looking things up. It makes it seem like it’s so accessible because you don’t have to search and search for therapists, but in reality, they just pair you up with s**tty ones. I’m sure there are actual good therapists on there but from what I’ve heard, it’s mostly negative."
- i-am-a-salty-b***h
Wrong Audience
"I get spam-advertised for Grammarly, an automatic grammar helper tool thing because I work with languages. If I ever need a tool like that, I won't go with them because of how they have hounded me."
"This is especially frustrating because I actually work with languages as a profession and therefore DEFINITELY don't need it."
- turquoise2j
No MLMs Welcome
"Herbalife. One of their ‘smoothie bars’ has opened locally to me. They posted on the local residents' Facebook page, and I asked in the comments if they were Herbalife affiliated."
"In response, the ‘owner’ DM’d me a long, berating email about how I don’t understand anything and ended it with an offer of a free drink."
"I was already not into MLM stuff but this definitely didn’t do anything to improve my impression!"
- TheElusiveRaspberry
Seriously, No MLMs
"Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, LuLaRoe, DoTerra Oils, Young Living Oils, Norwex, It Works! etc. Any and all of the MLMs."
- Carrann823
Questionable Claims
"SheaMoisture Hair products. I have major issues with the ingredients they list and the sustainability of sourcing them."
"For example, anything they say contains Baobab (Adansonia) oil is majorly suspicious. I was born and raised in Southern Africa and the clusters of trees are 100km apart, with a few fruits here and there, they take hundreds of years to fruit, if at all. It just isn't right."
"Also, the one product they said contained Mafura. That's literally the word for oil, so, what oil? It's just marketing using 'Africa' like we are fools, and I will not support this." - SundaeSwimming128
Safety First
"A friend from college sold Herbalife and I was interested in finding a vegan protein shake for health reasons. Due to a very severe dairy allergy, I cannot have dairy, and whey is a very common and popular ingredient in protein drinks. (Whey is a dairy byproduct.)"
"Unfortunately, I can only buy vegan protein powders and they are so much more expensive. I posted on Facebook, asking if anyone knew any vegan brands that were cheaper than what I was using, and my friend commented pitching Herbalife."
"At that time, I knew nothing about it so I explained that I wasn't asking if it was vegan as a lifestyle choice but because I could get very sick. You know that scene from the exorcist where it's like split pea soup? That's me with dairy and it can become so bad, I can tear my esophagus, and all the blood vessels in my face burst. It's scary and not fun."
"My friend told me she would double-check with a higher-up about the Herbalife. She got back to me not even one hour later and showed me a screenshot of a Facebook message from her 'leader' saying yes of course!"
"So I believed them and bought some. It came and I made myself a shake. It wasn't amazing but not as gross as some others."
"But guess what. Spoiler alert. Herbalife is NOT vegan. Shortly after I finished my shake, I got sick."
"I tried to go as high as I could and complain, but they said since whey is listed on the ingredients and at that point, it was in my hands, and it was up to me to check what I was consuming. They offered me three free canisters. That's it."
"F**k Herbalife and their s**tty customer service and ill-informed sellers. F**k my ex-friend. F**k anybody who tries to sell you something you would consume that you cannot see the ingredients and nutrition information before you buy."
- Human_Allegedly
We've Got Jokes
"ACME. I've seen documentaries on how their products hurt Coyotes."
- Klotzster
Online Shopping
"Shein. Ugh, and there are people who will defend them fiercely and accuse you of being classist because not everyone can afford well-made or sustainable fashion. I disagree with this because it is more of a quality vs quantity thing."
"When you look at those prices, you know the people making the clothes and the planet are being majorly shafted. So, yeah I'd rather thrift, buy second hand, or just have a few pieces of higher quality."
- Warm-Replacement1839
Sourcing Water
"Fiji water. Aside from the wild overpricing of ALL bottled water, that brand is utterly anti-environment. The bottles are made in China, shipped thousands of miles to Fiji, and filled with admittedly good-tasting water. But they're then put back on a ship, and sailed thousands of miles to the west coast, put on trucks and trains, and shipped east."
"When you work it all out, the amount of oil burnt to get that bottle to you would half-fill the bottle."
"Compare to a local bottled water, or even better, tap water in a reusable bottle."
- cryptoengineer
Annoying Commercials
"Liberty Mutual as their commercials drive me nuts. That and f**king State Farm! At least Geico and Progressive have some entertaining ones."
- Eroding-Moon
Electronic Woes
"Samsung. Had a 16-month-old 70-inch TV die and they reached out to me and offered to repair it at no charge because it was a known issue. A month later, the repair facility canceled the service ticket and when I called Samsung to ask why, they told me that parts were unavailable… because so many had broken they used all the parts up and aren’t making more."
"Then they told me they would replace the TV… a week later they emailed to tell me they would not be replacing it. But encouraged me to have a non-Samsung repair facility fix it… even though nobody has the parts."
"They know the model has issues and did nothing after promising over and over that they would stand behind the product because Samsung cares and all that s**t. F**k them."
- dantasticdanimal
Homemade Is Better
"Welsh’s brand grape jelly or jam. My grandfather was in WW2 when Welch’s gave jelly to the servicemen."
"The ones they got were substandard, filled with seeds and twigs, so my grandfather forbade Welch’s in our house."
- Simple-Mastodon-9167
Ruining Neighborhoods
"American Greetings. They bought up the drive-in theater next to their corporate headquarters and then moved out a few years later."
"That drive-in was an affordable night out for a lot of families in a low-income neighborhood and was always packed."
- hikermick
We Don't Claim Him
"Reebok."
"My grandparents operated a pretty fancy Italian restaurant in Florida."
"Some dude came through and was a huge d**k to everyone. My grandparents asked him to leave and he ranted about how he basically owned Reebok and how he could ruin them and police wouldn’t even arrest him if they were called."
"I forgot his title but he wasn’t the CEO. Anyways, he didn’t represent Reebok well with my family."
- LongFeetMcGee
From annoying advertisements to misinformation to questionable customer relations, these Redditors made it clear that there are many reasons why they would choose not to support a brand. These companies should start taking notes.
@WhiteHouse/X
