<p>I’m surprised to see people calling this thread “dumb.” It seems kind of mean. CC posters are usually less judgmental than is the case on this thread. </p>
<p>My high school,had 1100 students just in my graduation class. Many have gone on to national notoriety. My college had at least 25,000 students. Honestly, I have no idea where most are, but there were some journalists who did quite well. My son went to a college with 35,000 students, many successful grads of that school too. dd went to a college where a state governor, and some cabinet members are alums. </p>
<p>My point is…just because they graduated from school with one of us doesn’t mean I need to have any kind of consumer loyalty to them. </p>
<p>It’s nice that the OP feels this way…but in my case, it would be impossible to keep track of all these successful folks, and patronize only their businesses or support their aspirations.</p>
<p>I will say…I DO shop at Target…because I learned to live it when I was in grad school. But not because of any allegiance to my college.</p>
<p>Hmmm… I do fly Alaska Air almost exclusively, I love shopping at Nordstrom Rack and browse clearance at Nordstrom, and my house has Moen faucets throughout… But it could be a simple coincidence since the school produces so many graduates each year!</p>
<p>I can barely understand a single word that is being said on this thread. To the extent I can glean what kind of rational thought the OP may be trying to express, I am going to just conclude that OP is in that cohort of people for whom the sports aspect of a university rather than the academic aspect is the salient marker. Baffling.</p>
<p>As a physician I would not use/prescribe Warfarin brand of Coumadin just because the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) named it when they got the original patent. Gotta thank those Wisconsin cows for getting into the clover and bleeding… leading to the anticoagulant’s discovery.</p>
<p>I certainly would rethink my choices of stores and TV stations based on your criteria. Look for the price, convenience and quality of goods and services instead. Perhaps buy locally produced goods when they are as good. </p>
<p>Moving from WI to Florida I have found many familiar brands are not available and many others that I never heard of from the east coast. I can’t get excited about Vermont maple syrup- used to buy brands from near my WI location and can’t see how their sugar maples are special. I tried Florida eating oranges but prefer those from California so I buy those and ignore the local ones (always bought Florida’s Natural orange juice- which was cheaper in Wisconsin!).</p>
<p>So much brand recognition is secondary to marketing, not actual better quality. You would be best off looking after yourself and spending the fewest of your (presumably) hard earned dollars on the best products. Also- how do you know CBS has more from your college employed than the other networks?</p>
<p>Regarding China- we had to give up on avoiding foreign made goods a long time ago. Anyone remember when Walmart touted “Made in America” at their stores? It was when they first came to our area back in the '80s or '90’s. That ad campaign is long gone.</p>
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<p>Stick around. I love CC and am still here, but it just about the MOST judgmental forum I have ever seen!</p>
<p>I understand Miami ( I think).
She is just saying she doesnt understand the reasoning that to purchase products that an alum produces, benefits other graduates in some way…
I guessI dont either.</p>
<p>I get the part about how more and better publicity for some colleges can enhance their reps. And, truth be told, I have looked up several impressive media folks, to see where they got their educations. (Some dummies, too.)</p>
<p>But the fact one reporter or executive went to a family alma mater says little about accuracy or slant, the rest of the team, the corporate goals. Or how products and pricing meet my needs. Or even if I would agree with the background philosophies, political contributions or fairness of policies of those companies. </p>
<p>I’m guessing (wondering?) that the OP uses the alma mater factor as a tie breaker, all things being equal. Not such a weird thing to do. All the criticisms and judgements seem mean spirited. I mean, is this thread really any dumber (not my choice of words) than the Revenge Shopping Thread, or other such silly/lighthearted threads? I enjoy reading most of them, but if I don’t care for the topic, I don’t bookmark or comment on it. My thoughts are that my negative comments won’t add to the conversation, so why chime in? </p>