"purely out of"

Question

Some consumers will not continue to patronize a company purely out of brand loyalty.

I have two interpretation for this sentence.

1. consumers does not go to the company because it is completely lacking brand loyalty (interpreted "purely" as "completely").
2. the only fact that company has brand loyalty will not attract consumers (I interpreted "purely" as "only and "out of" as "source") .

Which one is correct?

Answer 1

First, when we talk about brand loyalty we mean that a consumer is loyal to a brand, not that the brand is loyal to the consumer. For example, some people who smoke Marlboro's smoke that brand because they like the brand, not because the cigarettes are any better than ones from another brand. Some people buy Ford cars because they've come to identify with the brand rather than because the cars are any better than Toyotas or Chevys.

This quote is saying there are other consumers who won't stick to a brand just because of their loyalty to it. They will only keep buying a brand if the company continues to provide a better product than its competitors.