Just in time for St. Valentine’s Day, the London ad agency isobel in partnership will online polling company OnePoll conducted an intriguing love-or-hate study on brands across 1,500 UK respondents of both genders, 18+. The participants were asked to identify brands against some ‘love’ or ‘hate’ characteristics.

To a great surprise of all UK Apple fans, the iBrand is not even on the top 10 list headed by the e-commerce giant Amazon (Google for London, particularly). The nationwide leader is followed by Cadbury, Walkers, Heinz, BBC1, Google, Kellogg’s, Boots, Tesco and ITV.

The first positions of the most unloved brands took the two political parties: UKIP and Conservatives, with Marmite, Ryanair, Labour, Liberal Democrats, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Facebook and KFC closing the top 10.

Controversially, Facebook is rather hated (9th on the «unloved list») than loved (15th on the «love list») by the UK public.

Commenting on the Top 10, Paul Houlding, Managing Partner, isobel says:

“It would seem that longevity works wonders for most. All, bar two of the top 10, predate the 1960’s with top honours going to Cadbury (1824). Affection, it seems, has been hard won. But it’s not just about affection, it’s about relevance and usefulness and what better proof of that formula than Amazon and Google. Brands that are useful to us, brands that make our lives easier, brands that do what they promise. The question is, can they keep it up? 170 years from now will they have been as resilient as Cadbury?”

Regarding Facebook no-love public, he adds:

“Social media changes by the second and consequently so does our relationship with it. Facebook, the one time newbie, is now the granddaddy. And there is the suggestion that we’re suffering from Facebook fatigue. Is it as exciting? Do I still need it or want it? And with cyberbullying and privacy issues an ongoing concern—perhaps it’s a social media platform we’re beginning to fall out of love with?”