Coca-Cola, Google and Nestlé are among the firms with the best reputations worldwide, but there is a gap between perceptions of big brand owners' social standing and their actual products.

WPP-owned firms Burson-Marsteller, Landor Associates, Penn Schoen Berland and BrandAsset Consulting polled 40,000 shoppers in Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Russia and the US.

They found the "performance" of leading firms in terms of their products and services, yielded an average rating of 66 percent, versus 55 percent for citizenship activities like being "socially responsible" and "helpful".