America's Biggest Brands: Iconic Or Overexposed? (SLIDESHOW, VOTE)

In the money-hungry world of corporate America, is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? In the case of mega-brands like Wal-Mart, Starbucks and McDonalds there may actually be. With every step these profitable, but often reviled companies take, they face an increasing amount of scrutiny about their business practices.

Huge consumer companies like Apple, Google, or Coca Cola have become an essential fact of our lives. They've changed the way we shop, eat and interact, but we're often not quite sure how we really feel about them. Sure, I love my iPhone but...

In honor of July 4th holiday, we've assembled a somewhat ad hoc list of America's most prominent brands. Each of these brands are quintessentially American in their own way, and - for better or worse -- they occupy a huge space in our collective psyche.

Which of America's biggest brands has done the best job of growing in a responsible, smart fashion? Which brands are truly and deservedly iconic? Which are sickening? Which are inspiring? Which are merely ubiquitous?

View our SLIDESHOW and VOTE below:

Now Make Your Own Top 5 And Share with Your Friends

Coca Cola

1 of 9

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides: « »

:

Become a fan

Vote and Share Choose Your Top 5 Merely Ubiquitous Iconic Now Make Your Own Top 5 And Share with Your Friends RANK: AVERAGE:  OUT OF 10 Soda is now often cheaper than water. Coca Cola, founded in 1886, is the venerable American endeavor that's largely responsible for that odd fact of modern consumerism. Coke , which had had $1.4 billion in sales last year, also owns four of the five top non-alcoholic beverage brands in the world, including Minute Maid and Powerade.

Recent HuffPost Users Who Voted on this Slide:

Current Top Five

Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[drymartini1]

the list misses some bigger icons presented here than say levi strauss and starbucks. here are my top 5 picks.

Coke
McDonalds
Colgate
Marlboro (by Altria formerly known as Phillip Morris)
Pepsi

[brownstoness]

hat tip to: http://iamned.blogspot.com 4 the good articles

[naschkatze]

I've never shopped in WallMart and I never intend to.

[sheilaofmiami]

I got the new iPhone cause I have seen that Apple backs up their products. They will fix it till it can't be fixed. I compare this to the Palm's I had. They all died in a year, and had ZERO support.

I hope to have this iPhone for several years, not just one. And 16 gig will keep me happy for a long long time, I don't need much music on the phone.

Happy 4th, country is screwed, life will never be what it was. Bush and Cheney need to go to jail, but won't. Obama is in much deeper water than he thought and has been bought by all that is BIG.

[Harrier]

Apple needs to refine its strategy when it comes to computers. When the top of the line computers an Ipods don't come with ability to use micro SD Card. Or cannot use eStat 300 because doesn't have. They have no blue ray capability and their system don't have very good multimedia systems. The still don't have capability to play games on anything but it's newest computers and their OS system wasn't designed to get full graphics capability from the expensive graphics cards (hardware) it added to its computer. If it doesn't get off the dime, it's competitors will. No amount of marketing will help Drives need to be replaced Things can change very fast in the computer business.

For coke, with the aging population, people are no reaching for something healthy and moving away from sugar water.

[frantaylor]

Blu-ray? Are you kidding? The drives eat power and drain batteries like there's no tomorrow.

Any device that takes SD cards can use a micro SD card with an adapter.

Macs run Windows now. What was that you were saying about incompatibility?

[frantaylor]

I bet you haven't even noticed that the new Macs have nVidia 9400 graphics, very nice for gaming even by Windows/video game standards.

[noneIn2008]

The #1 green plague is consumerism. A simple first step to real green, stop buying anything advertised on TV. If it is advertised, avoid it. End consumerism.

[isis]

Why is Coke near the top? They shoot union organizers in other countries, don't they? And who wants sugar water? Or does #2 mean bad?

[W i l l]

"they occupy a huge space in our collective psyche. "

Count me out of that collective. I rid my mind of consumer conditioning...the effect of the liberation, will open one's eyes. It may cause a bit of denial for having realized what a sucker the consumer has been over the years...other than that...ditching corporate America will set you free in ways they want no one to know of.

[plzchuteme]

Indeed! Count me out as well. They could have just as well extended the voting spectrum downward past ubiquitous into the negative numbers starting instead with "downright irritating." Levis and Coca Cola were, at one time, iconic, but crossed over to the dark side years ago. I avoid all of these products like the plague; partially because of principle, partially because of value, and partially because they do not offer what I am looking for or what I need. I particularly rebel against the marketing of "you need what we offer," instead of "we offer what you need."

[rini]

If Coca Cola is the best expression of the American people that we can muster up, then that's pretty sad. It's no wonder that we started the world wide trend in obesity. Yay America!

[littlepuffycloud]

Everyone was so excited to use their fingers on the iphone, nobody realized you can't even take and send photos or videos along with a text. But hey...there is that cool 'level' application, so it's worth the price, right?

[Pupadup4oBama]

Actually, I think this new generation that just came out has video.
I love my iphone...it's helped me in many a situation.

[marijam]

Coca cola was ruined when they went to cans instead of glass bottles and to high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. Levi's are no longer made in America, so they are not iconic, at least not in America. The ipod and apple are overpriced. Nike, no longer made in America, actually, were they ever? How about some products actually made in America? How about some products being made the old fashioned way? By Americans.

[ErnestineBass]

I believe New Balance athletic shoes are still made in the U.S.A..

[Pupadup4oBama]

Nothing like a good old fashioned Coca Cola in a glass coke-bottle. MMMMMMM

[Weathermaker]

Walmart American? More like the Chinese embassy's storefront.

[ErnestineBass]

LOL!

[chedet]

All apple products are made in china too. So I guess they are chinese embassy's PR dept??

[drymartini1]

your xenophobia is showing. :)