The 2016 Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brands in America
Updated: Mar. 28, 2022Every editorial product is independently selected, though we may be compensated or receive an affiliate commission if you buy something through our links. Ratings and prices are accurate and items are in stock as of time of publication.
Check out the 2016 winners!
From what you eat to what keeps your family happy and healthy, brands are trusted because they’re reliable enough to become part of your everyday story. We asked Americans to vote for the brands they trust across 40+ categories of products and services. Here are the stories behind the 2016 Trusted Brands.
Reader’s Digest surveys its readers every year so that you know which products you can trust when shopping. Check out the results of the 2020 Trusted Brands survey.
Mouthwash: Listerine
50%: Amount of people who suffer from chronic bad breath, according to the American Dental Association. Listerine was originally invented as a surgical antiseptic (its name even comes from the founding father of antiseptics, Dr. Joseph Lister). Listerine was marketed to dentists as early as 1895, but didn’t gain its mouth-freshening reputation until the formula’s owners coined the term “halitosis” in a series of 1920s ads.
Cereal: Kellogg’s
48%: Amount of Americans who add chocolate milk to their morning cereal, according to a recent survey by Kellogg’s (weirder still: 8% said they add juice). The first Kellogg’s cereal began with a flubbed attempt to make granola when sanitarium worker W. K. Kellogg accidentally turned wheat berry into flakes. He tried flaking corn next, and in 1906 Kellogg’s Corn Flakes hit the market.
Car: Toyota
80%: Amount of Toyota vehicles sold 20 years ago that are still on the road today. The Toyota Motor Corporation began with strings attached—literally. Kiichiro Toyoda founded the company in 1937 as a spinoff of his father’s Toyoda Automatic Loom Works business, a pioneer in automatic weaving machinery.
SUV/Crossover: Ford
28 mph: The top speed of the very first Ford Model A when it rolled out of Henry Ford’s Detroit workshop in 1903. A Chicago dentist snagged that cherry-red ride for $850 (about $23,000 today). By December 1915, Ford produced its one-millionth car. A century later, Ford remains a family-owned company, employing more than 187,000 people, including executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr., Henry Ford’s great-grandson.
Laundry detergent: Tide
8–10 loads: The amount of laundry an average American family cleans each week. Americans spend more on Tide laundry detergent annually than on Halloween candy or weight-loss products—$2.8 billion a year. We may be tied to Tide now, but inventing it was a lot more complicated than lather, rinse, repeat: Procter & Gamble scientist Dick Byerly put in 14 years of trial and error before he came up with the Tide formula, which debuted in 1946.
Bank: Chase
217 years: How long Chase Bank has been in the business of keeping money safe. American politician and Alexander Hamilton frenemy Aaron Burr founded Chase’s earliest iteration, the Bank of the Manhattan Company, in 1799, and the company still keeps the infamous Burr-Hamilton dueling pistols displayed in their New York headquarters.
Congratulations to the remaining winners that have earned America’s trust!
Airline: Southwest
Allergy Relief: Benadryl
Automotive Insurance: State Farm
Body Lotion/Moisturizer: Aveeno
Bottled Water: Dasani
Coffee: Folgers
Cold & Flu Remedy: NyQuil
Eye Care Product/Eye Health: Visine
Facial Moisturizer/Cream: Olay
Hair Color: L’Oréal
Headache/Pain Reliever: Advil
Household Cleaning Product: Lysol
Investment Firm: Fidelity
Cruise Line: Carnival
Juice: Tropicana
Small Kitchen Appliance: KitchenAid
Life Insurance Company: MetLife
Mass Merchandiser Retail Store: Walmart
Mobile Phone: Apple
National Hotel Chain/Resort: Marriott
National Pharmacy/Drugstore: CVS
Nutrition Bars: Clif Bar
Household Air Freshener/Deodorizer: Febreze
Computer: Dell
Fast Food/Casual Dining: McDonald’s
Pet Food: Purina
Salad Dressing: Kraft
Soap/Body Wash: Dove
Vitamin/Herbal Supplement: Nature Made
Soup: Campbell’s
Weight Loss System: Weight Watchers
Wireless Provider: Verizon
Yogurt: Yoplait
Credit Card: Visa
To get a glimpse of all the winning brands from every year starting in 2015, check out the full list of Reader’s Digest’s Trusted Brands.
