Amazon maintains top brand reputation, Apple and Google reps dip

Amazon remains the company with the best reputation, but several other tech brands including Apple and Google saw their reputations drop in the annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient poll, out Tuesday.

It's just the latest evidence of a burgeoning backlash against some of the technology giants that impact consumers' lives daily. Among the factors, which have spawned the hashtag #Techlash: Apple's recent Batterygate crisis, which found many iPhone users with slowed devices, and concerns about how Google-owned YouTube and Facebook were manipulated by Russian operatives in the 2016 presidential race.

As recently as 2016, Apple and Google were No. 2 and No. 3 behind Amazon in the poll. And the two tech companies were in the top ten list year, Apple was No. 5 and Google was No. 8. Facebook falls much lower on the list at No. 51, but is up from No. 66 last year.

Even though some consumers have growing concerns that big tech companies have control of too much personal information, Amazon maintains an "excellent reputation," the Harris report says.

It is the third consecutive year, and the fourth out of the last five, that the Seattle-headquartered online retailer has held the top spot in the annual poll of the 100 most visible companies, out Tuesday. In 2015, Wegmans edged out Amazon for the top spot, pushing the retailing powerhouse to No. 2.

This comes as Amazon mixes business expansion—more homes are welcoming its Echo speakers powered by digital voice assistant Alexa and it's acquiring Whole Foods for $13.7 billion—with so-called moonshot projects such its initiative with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to improve lower health care costs.

Also gaining in reputation: Tesla Motors, which moved up to No. 3 from No. 9 last year. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk is the current master of moonshot projects with plans to send people to Mars—with rockets built by his other company SpaceX—and build high-speed transportation tunnels in high-traffic metro areas.

The Top 10

1. Amazon

2. Wegmans

3. Tesla Motors

4. Chick-fil-A

5. The Walt Disney Co.

6. HEB Grocery

7. UPS

8. Publix Supermarkets

9. Patagonia

10. Aldi

For the 19th annual poll, 25,880 people were interviewed between Dec. 11, 2017 and Jan. 12, 2018.

©2018 USA Today
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.