White Paper: How Country of Origin Affects Brand Perceptions

Extensive research has examined how a product’s country of origin affects consumers’ perceptions of it. This phenomenon, known as the country of origin effect, or COE, differs across markets, products and industries. Morning Consult conducts daily surveys on public perceptions of major brands and foreign countries among tens of thousands of respondents across 43 countries. This large volume of data allows us to expand our understanding of COE in new and exciting ways, including by conducting analysis at the company level.

For corporate stakeholders concerned about COE and its potential impact on some of the world’s most prominent brands, this white paper introduces a country affinity score that assesses how a brand is perceived in relation to its country of origin in various markets around the world. We also analyze patterns in country affinity by industry and by country to generate insights for communications and marketing professionals, as well as government affairs teams, both for the brands mentioned in this study and for companies that are not directly included in the analysis. 

We then use Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to model a geopolitical shock to a given country’s reputation in a foreign market — in this case, Russian views of the United States. The analysis yields insight into how brands can prepare themselves for major geopolitical events that prime consumers to associate companies with particular countries.