
Industry Reputation — Image is Everything
Industry reputation is always changing. One of the major shifts in reputation today is the collateral damage that one company can inflict on its entire industry. Wish there was a more positive incline in how consumers see American business and government. Gallup’s recent analysis is now out and provides a look into who is up and who is down. It is no surprise that the real estate industry reputation has declined preciptiously from 2001. Even my own industry — PR — has witnessed a decline besides the fact that it is doing well. The computer and Internet industry look like they are surviving the best with positive lifts in reputation among US consumers.
The drop in perception of government, the deepest decline, seems to the theme of the day. To learn more about why that might be…take a look at our research on Civility in America. It says it all. [Have to add that the CEO of Yahoo, Carol Bartz, was fired via a telephone call. How civil is that? Regardless of what was happening at the company, what happened to the pink slip?]
Overall View of Selected Business Sectors (% of U.S. Consumers) | ||||
Industry | % Positive | % Neutral | % Negative | Change in Positive Since 2001 |
Computer | 72 | 16 | 10 | 5 |
Restaurant | 61 | 25 | 12 | -1 |
Internet | 56 | 26 | 16 | 12 |
Farming & Agriculture | 57 | 22 | 19 | -2 |
Grocery | 52 | 24 | 24 | -5 |
Retail | 44 | 33 | 22 | -3 |
Travel | 42 | 35 | 21 | -8 |
Accounting | 36 | 42 | 19 | -11 |
Publishing | 38 | 38 | 22 | -9 |
Automobile | 42 | 25 | 32 | -3 |
Telephone | 39 | 30 | 31 | 0 |
Movie | 38 | 23 | 37 | 5 |
Sports | 37 | 25 | 36 | -1 |
Television & Radio | 39 | 21 | 40 | -3 |
Electric & Gas utilities | 38 | 20 | 40 | 7 |
Advertising & PR | 32 | 29 | 37 | -6 |
Pharmaceutical | 36 | 20 | 43 | -3 |
Airline | 29 | 30 | 39 | -8 |
Education | 35 | 18 | 47 | -15 |
Legal | 29 | 24 | 45 | 0 |
Banking | 30 | 21 | 47 | -17 |
Healthcare | 27 | 18 | 55 | -10 |
Real estate | 23 | 23 | 52 | -23 |
Oil & Gas | 20 | 15 | 64 | -4 |
Federal government | 17 | 20 | 63 | -24 |
Source: Gallup, August 2011 |
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