I’m not a slave, but I can be extremely brand loyal. In fact, there are some products that people tend to be very loyal about. Mayonaise is one. In America you are either a Kraft, Hellman’s or Miracle Whip person for the most part, and you don’t crossover.
But back to me. I often try a store brand to see if I like it. I will give it a chance. Sometimes they are as good, sometimes not. Once in a while I like the private label better. Nothing, nothing can ever replace Coca Cola! It’s the real thing after all. Now I don’t drink it except a few times a year (I don’t drink caffeine anymore) and if I am drinking caffeine free soda I don’t care what brand it is. I will only use Hellman’s mayo, Stouffer’s frozen food is the best, unless I am looking for vegan meals or seafood then I seek other brands. I could go on naming foods where I am very brand loyal.
As far as medication, I stick with brand for ibuprofen, because Advil puts a nice candy coating on the pill that makes it easier for me to swallow, which matters a lot to me. I also demand brand for the thyroid medicine I take now, because the generic falls apart easily and I am so sensistive that leaving a little bit of the meds behind in the bottle can affect me. However, my old thyroid med was generic and it was fine, I was allergic to the brand. Many many generics are not coated well or are larger than the brand pill, which I find annoying because of the trouble I have swallowing and also with some drugs they get all screwed up looking on the shelf. They burst open, or crack, or look like they were in a very humid environment when they weren’t and this is a problem for drugs I take as needed, because it’s nice to have a small stash kept at home. Most medications I think it is fine to take the generic though. Especially things like pain meds or anything that it doesn’t matter if the dose varies a little. I recently took half generic and half brand for shingles, because the pharmacy ran out of the generic.