Brand differences can spell doom for couples

A STRONG relationship can deal with differences over religion, politics and even the in-laws.

But what can spell disaster are disagreements with your other half over Five Roses versus Glen Tea. A study has found that couples who disagree over household brands could sour their relationship even more than those tackling different backgrounds, religions and personality traits.

And being forced to have your partner’s choice in muesli, yoghurt or tomato sauce can weaken a relationship in a manner compared to “death by a thousand cuts”. Researchers say disagreement about rival brands can lead couples to a power struggle over whose favourite they will buy, with the partner who loses nursing a feeling of “low power”.

When a couple have a major difference such as religion or politics, they know this from the start and can either work through it or split up. But the partner who, for instance, prefers Coca-Cola but finds the fridge only ever has Pepsi feels that they have less power in the relationship, leading them to become progressively unhappier as the years go by, the study says.

US business academics from Duke University, in North Carolina, analysed the preferences of couples where one had a feeling of low power within the relationship. They found those who had this feeling were often stuck with their partner’s preferred brands in drinks, beer, coffee, chocolate and even cars.

Couples with brand differences rarely seemed to split up as a direct result but it leads to the lowpower partner becoming less and less happy.”