There are some companies out there that just stink. You know the kind I mean…the very thought of them makes you roll your eyes and sigh a few times. Of course, that’s not healthy. But sometimes, you feel a little better about the whole thing when people agree with you; it sort of justifies what you’re feeling about those entities that give you nothing but agida (Hey, I’m from NY…look it up LOLOL).
Welp, an online site called 24/7 Wall Street has been listing the most hated companies in the U.S. since around 2011. They’re from all different types of business, but the travel ones, of course, piqued my interest the most. Each year’s list is actually the results of the previous year, so those listed for 2011 were the most hated in 2010, and so on.
Here are those winners (well, really losers) for each year:
- 2011: United Airlines, American Airlines
- 2012: American Airlines
- 2013: American Airlines
- 2014: No travel-related companies that year!
- 2015: Spirit Airlines, Uber
- 2016: Spirit Airlines, SeaWorld
- 2017: Spirit Airlines
- 2018: Click here to see some names well known to this list AND a brand new contender
- 2019: Click here. Guess who made the list AGAIN? Plus a hotel brand!
- 2020: Click here. That year’s list was a little different, to say the least!
As far I can tell, 24/7Wall Street didn’t do a “Most Hated Companies In America” list for 2021. Again, that list would have been for 2020 and I dunno…maybe they figured 2020 was so messed up that they’d take a year off.
But they DID make a “Least Admired Companies In The World” list for this year, which, in my mind, is just as good (well, just as BAD) as a “most hated” list. And yep, there were some U.S.-based travel-related companies.
From 24/7 Wall St.:
These financial and public relations issues can cause consumers to rethink their spending preferences, often making them avoid negatively viewed businesses. If one of these scandals becomes front-page news, it can be very difficult for the corporation to rehabilitate its image.
To determine the world’s least admired company for 2021, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a survey from Fortune and management consulting firm Korn Ferry of over thousands of executives and analysts. For the survey, the largest companies by revenue were used to pick the finalists, and they were ranked, along with other companies in their industries, on criteria like innovation, quality of management and global competitiveness. Only companies that ranked in the lower half of their industry were considered for the top spot.
Of the 25, these travel and travel-related companies popped out:
#21: Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo ranks as one of the world’s least admired companies after years of negative stories about its business practices. In 2016, it came to light that company employees created fake customer accounts in order to meet quotas and inflate company revenue. The company was fined millions of dollars, and in the aftermath of the scandal, CEO John Stumpf stepped down. Even after Stumpf left, revelations about the company’s dealings continued to pile up.
In January 2020, a report by a federal banking regulator included documents and testimony that workers were encouraged by the bank’s management to break the law. Stumpf agreed to pay a $17.5 million fine and was permanently banned from working in banking. A number of other former Wells Fargo executives face charges.
#4: American Airlines Group
American Airlines is the least admired airline among 15 companies in the industry considered in the Fortune and Korn Ferry survey, and one of the least admired companies in the world. The company denied rumors of a then-forthcoming bankruptcy filing in May 2020 after demand for air travel tanked due to COVID-19. It has not yet done so, but the company did recently post a record $8.9 billion annual lost in 2020.
So after a hiatus of several years, it looks like American Airlines is on peoples’ “poop lists” again. Anyone surprised? Beuller? Beuller?
Click here for more descriptions of the entire list.
Feature Photo: Pixahive
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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