Brand beliefs are unfalsifiable.

What’s the better brand of headphones?
Bose or Beats by Dre?
Prove it!
You can’t, because it’s subjective.
It’s a belief.
All brand evaluations are subjective beliefs (a redundant expression).
Because they’re unfalsifiable.
And that’s what makes them so powerful.
An interesting new paper provides some insight.
The researchers found that people derive psychological benefit from believing in things.
Especially things that can’t be proven wrong.
And when we’re presented with evidence that contradicts our opinion:
“The Bose QuietComfort 15s have the best noise cancelling in an over-ear headphone.”
We comfort ourselves and our brand decisions with unfalsifiable evidence.
“But the Beats Studio headphones are cool.”
So what?
So don’t try to make sense of the marketplace by surveying people.
Or by doing scientific, objective analysis of various brands.
You may determine the “facts”
But you won’t arrive at people’s “truth.”
And it’s their “truth,” their beliefs, that drive their decisions.
And one other thing.
Those brand beliefs are highly resistant.
Not to change, but to evidence.
Because evidence threatens people’s decisions, their beliefs.
And it’s their beliefs, which create their identities.