The 10 Most Overrated Brands

A gent by the name of Lucas Conley (a name widely-known to 0.1% of the population) has a new book out called Obsessive Brand Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion, in which he examines the inner workings, implications, and general insidiousness of marketing strategies that attempt to sell you on a brand name rather than on the actual qualities and benefits of a product.

You don't have to look around for long to realize how pervasive this technique is becoming in this day and age, as our attention spans dwindle and the opportunities for advertisers to reach us multiply exponentially. After all, if you don't have sufficient time or energy to research and evaluate your purchases rationally, all you're left with is a gut feeling whose genesis may have largely resulted from exposure to various sorts of black magic (e.g. brand marketing). (Think about it: who wouldn't be tempted to fill up their gas tank with a sexy iPump even if it cost them $0.50/gallon more?)

To help promote his book, Conley released to The Boston Globe a list of what he considers to be the ten most overrated brands. To save you the trouble of clicking through the whole list (and from all of the advertising entailed by this experience), I've reproduced it below:

• Southwest Airlines


• The Gap


• Los Angeles Lakers*


• Oprah


• MTV


• Dunkin' Donuts


• Victoria's Secret


• Apple


• Trump


• Generic Store Brands

*Okay, while the traumatic events of Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals will have me forever cursing the name of this Tinseltown team, Conley's argument that Kobe Bryant's spoiled, whiny egomania somehow translates into an over-inflated image of the team as a whole doesn't really make any sense. I suppose he could find a less transparent way to pander to his audience, but eh.

Any big surprises here? Which brands would you add to this list?