The Premium Beer thread, and its discussion of Stella Artois’ perception in the States being at odds with its average reputation in Belgium (as well as Foster’s and Heinekein being similarly perceived) made me wonder if there are any American products that are similar in the international market. Do you know of any?
Isn’t Spam considered a delicacy in the South Pacific?
Do Marlboro cigarettes count? Marlboro Reds are a very blue collar brand in the United States, but are extremely popular abroad.
As far as I know: Levi’s jeans.
A Levi’s 501 easily costs over $100 here and I’ve been told that it’s much less in the US.
Johnny Walker Red Label scotch - definitely considered low-end here and in the US, but I certainly know of people in, for instance, Poland who consider it a huge luxury.
Second the Johnny Walker. Every non-Muslim family in Cameroon has an empty bottle proudly displayed in their china cabinet along with their most precious belongings.
China can be pretty bizarre. Budweiser is a premium brand, costing several times the price of a normal beer. It’s promoted at bars by girls wearing special silver Budweiser club clothes. Grocery store level cosmetics, like Revlon and Nivea are sold in expensive department stores with full on displays. Nescafe is pretty expensive and is often sold in fancy gift boxes with a jar of “coffee”, some fancy cups, etc all very nicely packaged. McDonalds and KFC are fairly expensive restaurants where a trendy young couple might go on a first date.
Erm… ah… Johnny Walker is a product of Scotland, isn’t it?
McDonalds.
Budweiser is a semi-premium brand in Japan. Costs about 20% more than the domestic beers, and a few of my co-workers actively seek it out.
Ironically, Harley-Davidson is considered a premium brand here, although it’s just the clothing and logo goods, I’ve never seen anyone actually riding the bikes (Ducati and BMW are where you go for import bikes. HD is just The Gap with more leather).
Speaking of bikes, many American-made road and mountain bicycles are very well-respected here, including Cannondale, Felt, Kona, Trek, and Rivendell
I don’t know. I’ve never considered Marlboros particularly blue collar or low brow in the US. Every income group smokes Marlboros.
Britney Spears…
Oh, wait.
How about Madonna.
No?
Hmmmm.
Nuts.
About $30 in the US, which is still plenty for me.