Mexicans are extremely brand loyal, according to a new Panel Mexico study from research company NPD Group, Inc., Port Washington, N.Y.

Panel Mexico was conducted via personal interviews among 11,000 Mexicans in spring 1993 and surveyed consumers' brand preferences in 48 product categories, nine of which are excerpted here. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.5%.

In four of the nine categories randomly selected for AAI's Datawatch, there was overwhelming preference among consumers for a single brand. Colgate-Palmolive's Colgate toothpaste, for example, was the brand clearly preferred among 65.4% of consumers, while Procter & Gamble's Ariel was the choice of 61.1% of all consumers in the detergent category. CPC's Productos de Malz unit's Knorr Sulza consomme was preferred by 55.5% of consumers surveyed, while, in fabric softners, 54.7% named Colgate's Suavitel.

In four categories the leader was so far ahead of the competition that no definite second runner was apparent. In cooking oils, all purpose cleaners, laundry detergent and bar soap consumers' second preference was named as "other", leaving the remaining brands with scattered shares. La Corona's 1-2-3 cooking oil, for instance, was named by 28.3% of the consumers surveyed as their preferred brand and another 26.2% used an "other" designation. Beyond that, Unilever's Capullo was named by only 11.8% of consumers, and Productos de Malz' Mazola and Industrial Aceitera's Maravilla ranged between 5.4% and 9%.

The marketer with the most commanding lead in the nime categories was Colgate, which totally dominates toothpaste. Fully 86.6% of consumers named one variety of Colgate toothpaste as preferred, leaving only 10.4% of consumers to choose other brands.

Because consumers were allowed more than one response, penetration totals may equal more than 100%.