For the sixth year in a row, we asked Consumerist readers to send us their nominations for our Worst Company In America tournament. And this year’s response was the greatest by far.

The 32 companies listed in the above bracket are the result of thousands of nominations. Once again, the two most represented fields are telecom — including reigning champ Comcast — and banking/credit, each taking up six slots.

One area that saw a cut in the number of nominated companies is airlines, which dropped from four nominees in 2010 to only two this year. This might come as a surprise to some given the number of negative headlines about air travel in the last year. We chalk the decrease up to three factors: 1) That the increase in fees was attributed to the airline industry in general rather than any specific carrier; 2) That voters didn’t blame the airlines for the TSA’s procedures; 3) Two of last year’s nominees — United and Continental — are now one flying behemoth.

Among the businesses new to this year’s tournament is BP, whose public image was tainted by its troubles in the Gulf of Mexico. And then there’s newcomer Johnson & Johnson, whose McNeill division must have set some kind of record for the sheer number and variety of brands recalled from store shelves in a single year.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be posting two matchups each day until we get down to 16 companies, and then 8, 4, 2 and ultimately the company that earns the right to hoist the golden poo.

THE FINAL DEATH MATCH
*Bank of America vs. BP

FINAL FOUR BOUTS:
*Bank of America vs. Ticketmaster
*BP vs. Comcast

ELITE 8 MATCH-UPS:
*Bank of America vs. Walmart
*Ticketmaster vs. Chase
*BP vs. WellPoint
*Comcast vs. AT&T

SWEET 16 MATCH-UPS
*Bank of America vs. DirecTV
*Delta vs. Walmart
*Ticketmaster vs. Sony
*Capital One vs. JP Morgan Chase
*BP vs. Time Warner Cable
*WellPoint vs. Johnson & Johnson
*Comcast vs. Best Buy
*AT&T vs. Apple

ROUND ONE MATCH-UPS:
*Bank Of America Vs. Citi
*Dish Network Vs. DirecTV
*United/Continental Vs. Delta
*Walmart Vs. Gamestop
*Tickemaster Vs. PayPal
*Sony Vs. Dell
*Capital One Vs. American Express
*Wells Fargo Vs. Chase
*Toyota Vs. BP
*Time Warner Cable Vs. Facebook
*United Health Vs. Wellpoint
*CVS Vs. Johnson & Johnson
*Comcast Vs. Charter
*RadioShack Vs. Best Buy
*AT&T Vs. Verizon
*Apple Vs. Microsoft

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2011 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on HERE.
See and print the entire WCIA 2011 bracket, here.

Best of luck to everyone and may the worst company win!

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