Uber tops rankings as the ‘most hated brand’ in the UK and US
Uber are a polarising brand with both die-hard fans and plenty of haters. In the taxi and private hire industry, it's safe to say people who dislike Uber and their business model vastly outnumber those that appreciate them. But it seems that the dislike of Uber has grown beyond the industry to the rest of the UK public.
Top of the Charts
A recent study using data mined from Twitter has found that negative sentiment towards Uber is at an all-time high. RAVEreviews, the company behind the research, used the research tool SentiStrength to evaluate sentiment from over a million brand-related tweets. They then used this information to establish a ‘hate rate.’ The hate rate is simply the percentage of negative tweets about a given brand.
Their research found that Uber topped the rankings in both the UK and the US. The UK’s hate peaked at 47.88% and was slightly higher in the US reaching 48.35% negative tweets. It seems motoring is a common source of hatred in the UK as a number of the top rankers were also car manufacturers. This included Nissan and (perhaps unsurprisingly) Audi and BMW. You can find the full infographic here.
There are plenty of lists that companies would be proud to top. A list of the most hated brands in a country is probably not one of them. But as the saying goes, no publicity is bad publicity. The fact that so many people are talking about Uber online ultimately gives their brand an unneeded awareness boost.
Why The Hate?
A quick browse of the #DeleteUber hashtag on Twitter makes it clear that people are unhappy with them. There are a number of legitimate reasons why there are growing levels of hate towards Uber. Not least their record on worker’s rights, surge pricing and tax avoidance.
Everyone Hates Uber
It seems Uber has become so hated that there is now even a dedicated website. Whyeveryonehatesuber.com is a site set up by global consumer watchdog, SumOfUs highlighting what they call Uber’s seven-step “playbook.” They outline how Uber uses these seven steps to disrupt markets, often without permission from regulators, and then utilise their position to bully their competitors.
The seven steps are:
Market entry
Driver recruitment
Use riders as a political base
Gain political influence the way giant corporations always do
Ignore or fight regulations when possible, settle high-risk lawsuits
Brush off protests from competition
Reduce fares, increase commission, increase driver numbers
The purpose of the website was to encourage people to sign their petition calling for Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, to stand down. While he did stand down back in 2019, SumOfUs has opted to keep the website live to try and educate people about the problematic nature of the Uber business model.
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