It's only bad form if the company has paid you in order to mention them. Blogvertising has become all the rage, and it's a practice I wholeheartedly disagree with. The FTC is planning to crack down on these things by making it mandatory that if you were paid for your review, you must admit that publicly. Who can prove it though?

As far as in answers to questions online? You absolutely HAVE to give brand names sometimes.

I wrote this article about Alternative Uses for Dawn Dishwashing Detergent. You can read if here if interested:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/76242/dawn_dishwashing_detergent_its_not.html

The point in mentioning this is: some of these things I suggest people to do I would never, EVER suggest they do with other products. For example, Dawn has been tested as safe on animals, so when I recommend it for washing fleas off puppies and kittens, I know it's safe. I can't guarantee the same about just any dishwashing detergent.

Now, is it advertising to mention a product? Sure it is. It's the oldest and by far best method of advertising for a company ever: Word Of Mouth Advertising.

The point is, if a product impresses you sufficiently to recommend it, you only know for sure if THAT BRAND is as impressive as you say. You cannot honestly speak authoritatively about another brand of the same type of product because you haven't used it.

By the same token, if the brand is bad and it was a bad experience for you, that doesn't mean EVERY product like that by different companies would be the same.

So when answering a question honestly, if it's a specific brand you're experienced with, it should be a specific brand you offer to the asker.