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The Street
The Street
Samanda Dorger

Spirit Airlines Isn't the Most Hated Company in America

If it seems too “pie in the sky” for a company to do right by the planet and still turn a profit, just look to Patagonia.

The outdoor clothing maker, famous for its fleece pullovers, tops the list of CNN’s best rain jackets, and a Men’s Health review asserts that “when you buy from Patagonia you're getting a piece that's going to last you for quite some time.”

A McKinsey interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard reveals how a company can turn a profit and still stick to its values of “quality, integrity, environmentalism, justice, and being unfettered by convention.”

These, and other reasons, are probably why the outdoor retailer ranks at the top of the newest Axios-Harris brand reputation survey, scoring an 83.5 out of 100 “reputational quotient” in the survey that seeks gauge the reputation of the 100 most visible brands in America.

The company has supported environmental groups and causes with money, visibility and more for decades, Axios says, but in 2022 Patagonia took it to another level by creating a legal structure to ensure all profits that aren't reinvested in the company will go toward fighting climate change, and in which “Earth is now our only shareholder.” Patagonia projects an annual dividend of roughly $100 million to fight the climate crisis.

To determine the brands with the best and worst reputations, Axios partnered with Harris Poll and surveyed 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample between March 13–28. Respondents were asked which two companies, in their opinion, stand out as having the best reputation today and which have the worst. The nominations are compiled into an aggregate list to determine the “most visible” companies. The respondents rate those 100 most visible companies on nine dimensions of reputation to calculate a score. The nine dimensions are:

  • Character
  • Trajectory
  • Trust
  • Culture
  • Ethics
  • Citizenship
  • Vision
  • Growth
  • Products & services

The 100 companies are ranked based on the overall score.

Here are the 15 companies with the best reputations, and the 15 with the worst reputations for 2023.

1. Patagonia

Score: 83.5

Sector: Lifestyle & fashion

Patagonia ranked No. 1 in five of nine specific categories: Character, trajectory, ethics, citizenship and products & services. 

2. Costco

Score: 82.1

Sector: Retail, wholesale & distribution

The discount warehouse retailer ranked No. 1 in the trust, culture, and growth categories.

3. John Deere

Score: 82.0

Sector: Industrial and electronic products

John Deer ranked No. 2 in the categories of culture and products & services. 

Getty Images for John Deere

4. Trader Joe's

Score: 81.7

Sector: Retail, wholesale & distribution

TJ’s ranked No. 3 for citizenship, vision and growth.

5. Chick-fil-A

Score: 81.4

Sector: Fast food/quick service dining

The fast food restaurant ranked No. 1 in the vision category.

6. Toyota Motor Corporation

Score: 81.0

Sector: Automotive 

Toyota

7. Samsung

Score: 81.0

Sector: Technology

8. Amazon.com

Score: 80.7

Sector: Retail, wholesale & distribution

9. USAA

Score: 80.6

Sector: Insurance

USAA ranked No. 2 in citizenship.

10. Apple

Score: 80.6

Sector: Technology

Apple ranked No. 2 in the trajectory category.

Marco Rubino / Shutterstock

11. 3M

Score: 80.5

Sector: Consumer packaged goods

3M is best known for its tapes and adhesives and product brands like Post-it notes and Command hooks.

12. Sony

Score: 79.8

Sector: Technology

13. Honda Motor Company

Score: 79.8

Sector: Automotive 

Shutterstock

14. UPS

Score: 79.8

Sector: Supply chain and logistics

UPS ranked No. 3 in the trust category.

Shutterstock

15. Microsoft

Score: 79.7

Sector: Technology

humphery / Shutterstock

86. Subway

Score: 68.22

Sector: Fast food/quick service dining

No. 86 overall, Subway ranked in the bottom 20 across all nine categories.

87. Comcast

Score: 68.02

Sector: Telecommunication

The cable company scored in the bottom 20 across all nine categories.

Image source: Shutterstock

88. Wells Fargo & Company

Score: 67.84

Sector: Financial services

Wells Fargo scored in the bottom 20 across all nine categories; its worst ranking is  88th for trust.

Justin Sullivan/Getty

89. Dollar Tree

Score: 67.3

Sector: Retail, wholesale & distribution

Dollar Tree ranked in the bottom 10 for trajectory, ethics and products & services. Its best ranking was No. 67 for trust. Dollar Tree dropped in the ranking by 15 spots compared with last year.

Trong Nguyen / Shutterstock

90. Family Dollar

Score: 65.6

Sector: Retail, wholesale & distribution

No. 90 Family Dollar ranked in the bottom 10 for character, trajectory, culture, vision and products & services.

91. Balenciaga

Score: 65.5

Sector: Lifestyle & fashion

The luxury fashion house ranked in the bottom 10 for character, trust, ethics, citizenship, vision and growth.

92. BP

Score: 63.53

Sector: Energy

The British Museum recently ended its sponsorship relationship with BP oil company after 27 years.

93. Bitcoin

Score: 61.1

Sector: Financial services

94. TikTok

Score: 61.1

Sector: Telecommunication

There are plenty of reasons to hate TikTok, but one you should worry about is how they collect your data. 

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

95. Spirit Airlines

Score: 60.1

Sector: Airlines

Spirit ranked No. 99 of 100 for products & services, and 98 for both growth and trajectory. A NerdWallet analysis of U.S. airlines last year found Spirit to have the lowest percentage of on-time flights.

Image source: Shutterstock

96. Meta

Score: 59.71

Sector: Telecommunication

The fifth most-hated company, formerly Facebook, ranked in the bottom five in eight of nine categories.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

97. Twitter

Score: 59.31

Sector: Telecommunication

The social media company is the fourth most-hated company.

Muhammed Selim Korkutata / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

98. Fox Corporation

Score: 59.32

Sector: Media & entertainment

Fox ranked 98th for citizenship and culture, and 97th for character, trajectory, trust, ethics and products & services.

99. FTX

Score: 58.6

Sector: Financial services

The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested and charged with fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, is ranked as the company with the second-worst reputation.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

100. The Trump Organization

Score: 52.9

Sector: other

The group of about 500 business entities owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump is mostly real estate, including hotels, resorts, and golf clubs. The company scored at the bottom, ranking No. 100 across all nine categories.

See the full ranking of all 100 companies at Axios.

nelutv / Shutterstock

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