Consumers Sour On Tech Firms

Consumers' fascination with tech faded last year, a new brand survey indicates, unless the company could also tout consumer hits such as the Echo device or a space-traveling Tesla, reports USAToday.

Amazon remains the company with the best reputation, but the reputations of several other tech brands including Apple and Google took hard hits in the annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient poll, out Tuesday.

It's just the latest evidence of a burgeoning backlash against some of the technology giants that impact consumers' lives daily. Among the factors, which have spawned the hashtag #Techlash: Apple's recent Batterygate crisis, which found many iPhone users with slowed devices, and concerns about how Google-owned YouTube and Facebook were manipulated by Russian operatives in the 2016 presidential race.

Apple fell to 29 and Google sank to 28. As recently as 2016, Apple and Google were No. 2 and No. 3 behind Amazon in the poll, which measures reputation for the 100 most visible companies in the U.S. The two tech companies were also in the top 10 last year, but at No. 5 and No. 8, respectively.

Facebook falls much lower on the list at No. 51 but is up from No. 66 last year.