Pity the fool who thinks it’s easy to be a big-name brand in the age of social media and instant information spreading. The power is in the hands of the consumer to voice complaints—and nothing goes unseen. So we decided to put some data behind it, crunching the numbers to find out which brands are frequently searched for with the word “sucks”. Read on to find out which brands suck the most and why.
10. UPS
Sucks count: 880 searches per month
If we’ve learned anything from UPS-sucks.net it’s that disgruntled United Parcel Service customers aren’t afraid to speak up. Late and missing packages, subpar customer support, unfair (read: no) pay for seasonal workers—the complaints are vast and varied.
9. FedEx
Sucks count: 880 searches per month
FedEx recently came under fire for giving NRA members a 26% discount—a move that caused #BoycottFedEx to trend. The company also slithered its way out of paying $1.5 billion in taxes in 2018; this was supposed to help FedEx create more jobs and increase wages, but neither of those things happened.
8. Walmart
Sucks count: 880 searches per month
There’s an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to Criticism of Walmart. While not all complaints against the retailer can be corroborated, here’s what can: predatory pricing, poor working conditions, not paying living wages and sex discrimination in raises and promotions.
7. Netflix
Sucks count: 1,000 searches per month
Once a standout for its video-streaming services, Netflix has increasingly fallen behind. The company is under fire for diluting content with mediocre and costly originals, canceling fan-favorites and continuously raising costs…despite the service not improving.
6. Nike
Sucks count: 1,000 searches per month
Nike received quite a bit of blowback when they hired Colin Kaepernick for an ad spot after the whole take-a-knee controversy—average monthly search volume for “nike sucks” has increased by 212% since the commercial aired. More pertinent, though, is their reliance on abusive sweatshop practices—a hot topic in the ’90s that is now resurfacing.
5. AT&T
Sucks count: 1,000 searches per month
On top of AT&T employees being accused of accepting bribes in exchange for planting malware and unlocking millions of smartphones, the telecommunications company has been dragged for over-hyping 5G to push sales, offering fake unlimited data plans and selling customers’ location data. And that’s on top of all the regular service and poor coverage issues.
4. Apple
Sucks count: 1,300 searches per month
Like Walmart, Criticism of Apple Inc. is lucky enough to have its own Wikipedia page. Some of the highlights include the Group FaceTime bug that let users listen in on others’ phones and the anti-competitive behavior by a number of the tech company’s developers.
3. Facebook
Sucks count: 1,600 searches per month
It’s really no surprise that Facebook landed on this list. The Mark Zuckerberg trial exposed concerns that the social-media mogul was using data in unsavory ways, encouraging the spread of fake news and failing to curb extremist propaganda. In addition, Facebook seems to have had no problem allowing false political ads and misinformation about vaccines to circulate freely in the past. It’s one thing after another with this brand.
2. CNN
Sucks count: 3,600 searches per month
We’re not convinced that these monthly searches aren’t just Donald Trump checking to see if anyone at CNN has said anything mean about him. He seems to be fueling much of the hate against the media giant, as evidenced by the “CNN sucks” chant that broke out at one of his rallies, which forced live cameras to cut their feeds. CNN has been frequently accused of biased news practices, particularly when it comes to political stories.
1. Google
Sucks count: 5,400 searches per month
It’s pretty ironic that people are going to Google.com to search “Google sucks”. Being frighteningly omnipotent, the tech company has come under a lot of scrutiny for tracking users’ every move, collecting data from minors, and failing to prevent sexist and racist workplace practices despite their “woke” image.
The Takeaway
We get it, brands. You need to make a profit and appease your shareholders in order to exist. But there’s no reason to be so…sucky about it. It’s time to find a balance between making enough profit to thrive and being decent moral entities.
Brands need to own up to how much they have sucked in the past. In fact, we encourage brands to use a .SUCKS domain to own their bad press and outline how they intend to make things right. Brand loyalty is a thing of the past; it’s time for customer loyalty. Step up, brands, and start making things right.
Photo Credits: mimagephotography / Shutterstock, Giphy, Saturday Night Live / Giphy, Wrecked / Giphy, Giphy, Giphy
