Spirit Airlines Isn’t the Most Hated Company in America

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, June 7, 2023

By Samanda Dorger

: Spirit Airlines Isn't the Most Hated Company in America

If it seems too “pie in the sky” for a company to do right by the planet and still turn a profit, just look to Patagonia.

The outdoor clothing maker, famous for its fleece pullovers, tops the list of CNN’s best rain jackets, and a Men’s Health review asserts that “when you buy from Patagonia you’re getting a piece that’s going to last you for quite some time.”

A McKinsey interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard reveals how a company can turn a profit and still stick to its values of “quality, integrity, environmentalism, justice, and being unfettered by convention.”

These, and other reasons, are probably why the outdoor retailer ranks at the top of the newest Axios-Harris brand reputation survey, scoring an 83.5 out of 100 “reputational quotient” in the survey that seeks gauge the reputation of the 100 most visible brands in America.

The company has supported environmental groups and causes with money, visibility and more for decades, Axios says, but in 2022 Patagonia took it to another level by creating a legal structure to ensure all profits that aren’t reinvested in the company will go toward fighting climate change, and in which “Earth is now our only shareholder.” Patagonia projects an annual dividend of roughly $100 million to fight the climate crisis.

To determine the brands with the best and worst reputations, Axios partnered with Harris Poll and surveyed 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample between March 13–28. Respondents were asked which two companies, in their opinion, stand out as having the best reputation today and which have the worst. The nominations are compiled into an aggregate list to determine the “most visible” companies. The respondents rate those 100 most visible companies on nine dimensions of reputation to calculate a score. The nine dimensions are: