4 most trusted ASX companies (and the 4 least trusted)

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have made Australians grateful for life's basic necessities.

Supermarket giants Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) and Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) have been declared the country's most trusted brands in the latest Roy Morgan rankings.

Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)'s Bunnings Warehouse came third, with stablemate Kmart not far behind as the seventh most trusted brand.

Privately owned Aldi made it a quinella for retailers, while Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) rounded out the top 5 in a year when it didn't do much flying.

Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine noted Coles' rapid ascent in esteem.

"In May last year we reported that Coles was the fastest mover, lifting three rankings," she said.

"During the depths of COVID, our data collected between April and September 2020 reveals that Coles jumped another two rankings to be neck-and-neck with Woolworths in the top two positions."

Despite the banks putting on loan repayment freezes, for the first time no financial institutions made it into the top 10.

The most distrusted brands in Australia

Despite the coronavirus forcing Australians to spend more time at home and on their smartphones and computers, 3 technology companies were labelled the least trustworthy.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) would all feel a bit hard done by, considering the major roles they played in keeping everyone entertained and supplied during lockdowns.

The next 3 least trusted brands had more definitive reasons for their reputations.

Australians continued their love-hate relationship with News Corporation (ASX: NWS) as they distrusted its tabloid journalism but still bought its subscriptions and newspapers in massive numbers.

Coming in at fifth place was AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) whose share price plunged during the Royal Commission and kept sinking last year through some sexual harassment scandals.

Rounding out the top 6 was Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), which blew up the historically significant Juukan Gorge site in Western Australia last May.

"Distrust remains the number one risk factor for the nation's companies because it is the toxic element in brand equity. Trust is a brand asset while distrust is a brand liability," said Levine.

"It's clear, then, that distrust should be on the risk register of every publicly listed company in Australia."