Two hundred years ago, a common saying about consumerism took hold: “You are what you eat.” But only 20 years ago (give or take), an update on that aphorism appeared that spoke to the sensibilities of a generation we now know as millennials: “You are what you buy.”
If that’s true, Morning Consult’s Most Trusted Brands report for 2025—released today at ADWEEK House at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity—contains some eye-popping revelations not only about the millennials (people between 29 and 44 years old) but Gen Z, the group just behind them aged 13-28.
Like the fact that younger consumers are surprisingly trusting of brands—frequently digital brands—that people over 50 are more likely to regard with a crinkled brow.
For example, Morning Consult found that the three brands most trusted by adults overall are Dawn detergent, Band-Aid bandages, and the United Parcel Service—fair enough.
But when millennials specifically were asked what brands they trusted most, however, their top three were Google, PayPal, and YouTube. And when it came to Gen Z, YouTube was first, with Google close behind as their fifth most trusted brand.
Earning trust in different ways
See a pattern here? It’s pretty hard not to spot that they’re all newer, digitally native brands. But how to explain it?
For starters, “older generations have had more time with brands,” said Morning Consult chief growth officer Jeff Cartwright. Simply by virtue of having walked around for longer, Gen X and boomers “have been in the buying zone for longer,” he said.
So it follows that legacy brands are, for older shoppers, also the brands that are not only familiar but ones they’ve had time to use, assess and eventually trust. In the list of 25 brands most trusted by baby boomers, you’ll find Kleenex (No. 1), Tylenol (No. 4), and Clorox (No. 13)—but you will not spot a single social media or even online brand.
