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I mean, I think I like the taste/consistency better, but I'm also realize it's a matter of what I grew up with and the sentimentality I associate with it. I couldn't guarantee that I could tell the difference between it and Jiffy in a blind taste test.
I'm meaning in terms of products that are known to be fungible with non-name brands.
Two that come to mind specifically are motor parts and baby food. In the case of motor parts, most of Napa and Primeline are the exact same thing....both as each other and as non name brands. You're paying more for the label (I guess there could be some customer service consideration). With baby food, it's well known and can be verified that Beechnut and Gerbers are, again, the same as both each other and the generic competitors, but the parents care a lot about their kids and want to feel like they're giving their kids the best products; and they develop loyalty to the brands through raising successive kids.
Generally speaking brands have to backed up by something or they get killed off by competitors.
Which, and it is almost is to your point, why traditional brands are under such massive pressure in the grocery supply chain. Private label used to be shoddy, so brands communicated quality, but with Costco and others putting weight behind quality store brands, you get the same thing without having all the stupid marketing costs. But you had to replace the known brand with a store brand to really make it work. Nobody wanted abc acme’s shit private label.
But if your brand can be associated with a better taste, even just a more familiar taste (your peanut b), a sense of trust (real important for baby food and maybe motor parts), or even a sense of status then it’s serving it’s role as a communication device.
Brands do serve a role but also command a premium, and therefore are rightly constantly under attack.