I don't have a brand affinity, I have a performance affinity! I don't care what name is on it, what color it is, and to some extent what it costs, if it does exactly what I ask of it, it's worth what ever I paid for it.
That said, I've found some brands that just don't meet my standards, but believe it or not, I've got a couple no-name discount house rods that were definitely miss-labeled for $5 each that outperform for what I ask of them a $300 stick.
Just because the MFG labels it doesn't mean it's what you can use it as, I disregard the labels and look for what it does and how it feels, not how some one wants to tell me to use it as.