WASHINGTON —Hershey, Cheerios and M&M's rank among the most trusted brands in the United States, at No. 7, No. 9 and No. 10, respectively, according to the Most Trusted Brands 2020, a report from data intelligence company Morning Consult.
The U.S. Postal Service, Amazon and Google ranked as the top three brands. Rounding out the top 10 were PayPal at No. 4, The Weather Channel at No. 5, Chick-fil-A at No. 6 and UPS at No. 8.
Walmart closed out the list of the top 25 brands.
"It's no secret that trust is key to brand success," said Michael Ramlet, CEO of Morning Consult, Washington, D.C. "In today's climate, every single day presents leaders with the opportunity to cultivate reliability, a key driver of trust."
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands had a strong showing overall and monopolized much of the list, with nearly half of all top 25 spots claimed by CPGs. Dove, Tide, Ziploc, Clorox, Tylenol, Colgate, Crest, Heinz and Campbell’s also made the top 25 list.
For Gen Z adults, Gatorade ranked highest among brands commonly found in convenience stores at No. 10, with Kit Kat No. 16, M&M's at No. 19, Cheerios at No. 21, Oreo at No. 22 and Doritos at No. 23. Rival c-store channel retailer Dollar Tree took the No. 25 spot on the Gen Z adult list.
For millennials, Cheerios ranked highest at No. 10, with Gatorade at No. 12, Doritos at No. 19, Hershey at No. 20, Oreo at No. 24 and M&M's at No. 25.
For Gen X, Hershey ranked highest at No. 4, with Campbell's at No. 10, Cheerios and M&M's tied at No. 12, Kellogg at No. 16, Betty Crocker at No. 20, Heinz at No. 21 and Coca-Cola at No. 24.
And for baby boomers, Hershey ranked highest at No. 3, with Cheerios at No. 5, M&M's at No. 7, Campbell's at No. 9, Betty Crocker at No. 12, Heinz at No. 16, Kellogg at No. 19 and General Mills at No. 23.
Rival c-store channel retailer Walgreens took the No. 24 spot on the baby boomer list.
CPG brands performed better overall with older generations, dominating more than two-thirds of the list among Gen X and boomers, and half of millennials. As a category, CPG ranked in the top 10 with about one-third of Gen Z consumers interviewed. Gen Z's average net trust rating is 10 points lower than that of baby boomers. Younger generations are also more likely to say their trust hinges on a brand's ethical performance, according to the report.
The report featured an average of 16,700 interviews per brand for nearly 2,000 brands.
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