What brands do you avoid at all cost? I don’t keep up with the news all that much, and many of the reasons to avoid something don’t make it there anyway. So I’m asking here to make a big list of things to avoid. It could be anything from bad security practices to really frustrating packaging. Working as a cashier myself, I definitely know there are plenty of brands I avoid purely on the basis that their product is a pain to stock.

On the flip side, what’s the alternative? If you avoid Pepsi, for example, what do you turn to instead?

  • viking@infosec.pub
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    2 months ago

    Coca-Cola, Apple, Samsung, HP.

    My alternatives are none (water & coffee only), Android (OnePlus specifically for phones), LG/Toshiba for consumer electronics, Brother for printers and Dell or Lenovo for laptops.

    Edit: Oh yeah and Tesla, not only because of Musk, I simply don’t want to drive a tablet on wheels. I’m going for low-tech cars only. Some barebones Kia, Hyundai or Dacia.

  • Hal-5700X@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Gillette. Due to their toxic masculinity ad. Why are they talking about that stuff? I go to them for shaving stuff, not for a talk about toxic masculinity or whatever. The good thing about the ad. It got me into safety razors. They’re way better then disposable razors. So thank you, Gillette. For making me stop using cheap plastic razors.

    • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      If it’s the ad I’m thinking of, I actually kinda liked it. But I definitely agree with you on the safety razors. Better shave and better for the planet. Don’t buy plastic cartridge razors, you’re getting ripped off and needlessly contributing to the plastic problem. Now if only I could find blades that a 100 pack didn’t mean 20 plastic 5-packs of blades, but it still is a lot less waste than a cartridge razor.

    • SethranKada@lemmy.caOP
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      2 months ago

      Reasonable. Personally, I never learned how to use a razor, so I just use an electric shaver. It doesn’t give as good a cut, but I’m happy to contribute to a boycott anyway.

      • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
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        2 months ago

        Personally, I never learned how to use a razor

        🤔

        Alright. Ima be ur daddy and tell you have to shave in 3 minutes flat.

        • Acquire some BIC single blade razors

        • Head to shower, put it on steaming hot and apply steaming hot water to face. Getting a hot towel after getting out of the shower and leaving it on your face for a while makes a tough shave even moar comfortable.

        • Lather shaving foam all over face

        • Run BIC razor under cold running water and shave until your face is like a baby’s bum

        • Rinse thoroughly with cold water to remove all lather

        • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I think the key that they never admit is that none of those disposable razors can really handle anything more than a couple of days growth. If you are someone who doesn’t try to stay cleanshaven, but just want to shave once you start to get scruffy, it will never work.

          That’s where double edge, shavettes, and true straight razors excel.

          • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
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            2 months ago

            Very true.

            I generally just use my ceramic bladed hair cutter on 0 when I’m not required to have a clean, clean shave, and then like I say above just use a BIC when I need a baby’s bum face for work etc.

            The twin / triple blades I find can be off-putting to some since if you have too much growth they latch on and snag.

    • Blizzard@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      Same here. It got me to try other brands (I used to buy Gillette out of a habit) and all of them turned out to be better and cheaper. In the end - Wilkinson for the win!

      Also, you got me to look up what a safety razor is. Looks classy!

  • i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    I gave up trying to maintain a principled list of companies because globalization and supply chains make it too hard to really find a single asshole.

    Your chocolate was picked by slaves. Your clothes were almost certainly made by exploited workers. Does that toy have a lithium ion battery? You’re not going to like how many of the raw materials were extracted. The name of the company on the sticker of the shit you bought is just a small piece of the rot.

    • kaffiene@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      My chocolate is fair trade actually. You can find good options. Although, yeah, I’d probably struggle re clothing

    • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      The saying “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” is pretty true for most of us right now. The oligopoly we have going on makes it extremely difficult to consistently do the right thing. The only real way forward is to regulate the shit out of these products. If only we had another Upton Sinclair to scare the general populace into giving enough of a shit to demand unilateral action.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You can’t even vote with your wallet because like 10 companies own 90% of everything, keeping track of who owns what is a full time job on its own, and all of them are criminals.

        Welcome to capitalist feudalism. Not long before it’s identical to the old feudalism.

  • KittenBiscuits@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Jimmy John’s

    The owner has been photographed with big game “trophies” of elephants and a leopard.

    TW: deceased animals

    Snopes fact check: true

    This guy pisses me off so much. Hunting like this (where it’s private land, the staff do all the work of finding you a prize, & they basically point you at the endangered animal when it’s time to pull the trigger) is so obscene, grotesque, unnecessary, and self-fellating. Fuck this dude in particular.

    • SethranKada@lemmy.caOP
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      2 months ago

      Completely inexcusable. How people can get away with this kind of behaviour is beyond me.

    • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      It’s okay to have this kind of kindness and passion for all animals, you know.

    • SethranKada@lemmy.caOP
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      2 months ago

      Relatable. I’m in a pretty Apple heavy area, so I’m in the minority in my dislike of anything Apple. At least they are easy to avoid, with how obvious they make their branding.

  • SlamWich@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Walmart, Amazon, Blizzard, EA, Apple, McDonalds, Then some of the mega brands when I can avoid them like Unilever, General Mills, etc

  • kowcop@aussie.zone
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    2 months ago

    Honestly… Google Play… someone re-gifted my son a $20 Google Play card a few years ago, and I tried to buy something for him and realised the card was about 2weeks out of date, and after about 10 back and forwards with support, they wouldn’t honour it… a trillion dollar company. I get it, but their cold indifference just seemed mean

    • Dorkyd68@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      They didn’t become a trillion dollar company by being nice. No mega Corp earns their billions by being an honorable company

  • hamid 🏴@vegantheoryclub.org
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    2 months ago

    Cemusa, they buy all the fucking cement in my country which is corrupt and has no ability to tarrif it or anything then sell it back to us at extremely high prices so my country, which is the Saudi Arabia of cement, is filled with half built buildings because no one can afford fucking cement. Fuck American corporations

      • hamid 🏴@vegantheoryclub.org
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        2 months ago

        All of the Cemex board members are American institutional investors. Cemex operates as a mafia here for the profit of American oligarchs. Cemusa was the old name of a parent company which was folded into Cemex, I’m old.

    • JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      For sure: fuck them, but this sounds more like a government corruption issue, laws should be in place to prevent businesses doing scummy monopolistic shit like this.

      • hamid 🏴@vegantheoryclub.org
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        2 months ago

        We are right next to the United States and they operate their military on the border and own all the politicians and businesses in Mexico. This is like telling an abusive wife it is her fault for not standing up for herself.

  • kaffiene@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Samsung. & Vodafone. For NZrs: Fisher & Pykel.

    F&P quality is shit and the first two have awful customer service. Samsung also, while they do innovate, lack quality and don’t stick by their products.

    Also: HP and Apple. Shitty lock-in tactics

  • JK_Flip_Flop@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Not really answering the question but I’ve completely stopped buying anything that requires USB micro B. I can’t fucking stand that connector. USB C costs a negligible amount more and I’ve yet to have a single port or cable fail irreparably after using it for the best part of a decade.

    An actual answer to the question? I’m done with Microsoft and Nvidia. I’d love to add Google to the list but I’m still largely entrenched in their ecosystem.

  • vext01@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    Most fashion clothing brands.

    The additional expenditure rarely maps to better quality.

    And if they make watches too, don’t buy those. They are always the cheapest watches with a name stamped on.

    • cheesymoonshadow@lemmings.world
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      2 months ago

      Same here regarding fashion brands, except for Duluth Trading for clothing and Ariat and Hoka for shoes. When working out in the elements and walking on concrete all day, I find the extra expense for those brands are worth it for me.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      Yeah, pretty much anything luxury. I make a point to buy knockoffs if I need the same class of product, because I know I’m paying a premium for intangible marketing bullshit otherwise.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Less than half of them are legit. You want to buy $15 pants 10 times or buy $70 pants once. Budget says $70 is a luxury. So we keep at it. It’s expensive to be poor.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          2 months ago

          No, I meant “luxury brands”. Buying something slightly better quality but not flashy doesn’t count. Nobody is impressed I’m wearing GAP instead of Walmart.