The University of Victoria (UVIC) released it’s annual Gustavson Brand Trust Index (GBTI), which measures Candian consumers’ opinions about 313 national corporate and product brands. While some top contenders held Canadian confidence, others — like Facebook and Huawei — saw trust fall drastically.
The GBTI evaluated responses from 7,200 Canadians to assess their trust of brands. The survey measures confidence based on overall brand trust, values-based trust, functional trust, relationship trust and how much consumers recommend the brands to others.
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and Costco all maintained their respective spots as the most trusted brands in Canada.
Additionally, Telus maintained its position as the most trusted telecommunications company in Canada. Koodo came in second, followed by Shaw, Fido and Virgin Mobile. Wind — now Freedom Mobile — took sixth, while Rogers and Bell rounded out the bottom.
Microsoft, IBM and Adobe were the most trusted technology companies according to the GBTI. Interestingly, Microsoft maintained it’s top spot despite falling 10 points in the rankings.
Further, some of the most prominent sliders in terms of trust were tech companies. Tesla also fell 10 points in its ranking, iTunes fell 11 points, and Google fell 16 points.
However, Facebook took one of the hardest hits, falling 29 points, landing at the bottom of the GBTI rankings.
It hardly comes as a surprise, considering the various ongoing scandals. Other studies have shown trust in Facebook falling significantly in recent years, and following the privacy commissioner’s report on Facebook breaking privacy laws, even the commissioner’s office is getting off the social network.
Instagram and Snapchat also saw declines in trust. Overall, the GBTI notes that four of the nine least trust brands in Canada are social media.
However, Canadians’ trust in Huawei also fell drastically, dropping 31 points in response to concerns over information security.
Overall, it was a tough year for tech companies in Canada.
To learn more about what companies Canadians trust and don’t trust, check out the full GBTI here.
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