Keep in mind that most off-brand products are literally the same brand name product in a different container.

In Canada we have a few off brand labels like No Name and Compliments. Take ketchup for example. The off-brand ketchup is literally the same brand name Heinz or French's it's sitting beside, but for $1.50 cheaper. That's because the off brand companies like Wal Mart and Loblaws pay for production cycle time at the main plants. So a run of Heinz ketchup will actually be a run of No Name ketchup. Heinz gets more money for the use of production time than they would selling that line of their own brand ketchup.

If you're brand loyal to something, you're just willing to pay more for a name, not the thing you want. Sour cream, mayo, toothpaste, even soap is all the exact same as the brand name stuff you're buying.

Most of the time you can tell where it came from by the production stamp. All companies have their own number so the no name ketchup would have the same product number stamp as the brand name one because it came from the same facility.

I have loyalty to higher prices if they treat their employees right. I'm willing to shell out an extra dollar if it means the employees aren't getting paid shit an hour

My only loyalty is to brands that have higher quality than the competitors. And that only last as long as they are maintaining their quality or another brand is increasing their quality.

What about Uncle Sam cereal? It's gone now, bought by a big cereal company and nearly immediately shut down, but there was nothing as fibrous and un-sugared on the American cereal market as that. Oh, sigh, Uncle Sam.

I mean, I wouldn't care what brand it was if there were anything comparable. But given that it was the only one like it, I was extremely loyal.