Branding is a sometimes-elusive concept in marketing. We all know we want to build consumers’ like, trust and respect for our brands, but there isn’t a set way to do that. It’s hard to quantify progress in branding (unless you’ve got the moolah to spend on large, brand-specific surveys). But a new Harris Poll may help us avoid negative branding tactics—to an extent. The bottom line: be careful who you choose as your spokesman.

Case in point: me and Local Company. I’m not sure what brand message LC is trying to portray in their commercials, screaming “WE LOVE YOU!!!” at the end of poorly made, increasingly obnoxious, obviously local spots. Probably that they may be clinically insane. (If you really loved me, you’d never make another commercial.) When I came across their ad on Facebook this week, I hit the little gray X in the corner of the ad, and gave FB the reason of “This company is so freakin’ annoying.” The Harris poll shows I’m not the only one who would do the same thing.

35% of Americans have chosen not to purchase a product because they found the company’s ads distasteful, and another 28% just because the spokesman was obnoxious (another 22% thought about each of those). 27% chose not to purchase because they didn’t like a brand-sponsored program or event.

The results held steady across most ages, although those over 55 were slightly more likely not to buy for those reasons. Men and women were roughly equal in not buying because of distasteful ads, but men were more likely to not buy for the other two reasons. Interestingly, distasteful ads were as much as turn off for 18-34 year olds as for 55+s.

Harris also found some correlation with income level and tendency not to buy because of annoying spokesman—a third of those making $75k+/yr chose not to buy for that reason, while a quarter of those making $35k or less a year gave the same reason. (The in-between range was in between: 28%.) Education level also showed some correlation: 29% of those with a HS diploma or less chose not to buy because they found the ads distasteful, while 43% of college grads gave the same reasoning.

What do you think? Have you decided not to purchase something because of its ads?

Photo by daves cupboard