Sorry if this isn’t the right forum, but it’s a question that has been confuzzling me for years, and I’m hoping that there’s a definitive answer to it.
Why is it so common for U.S. packaging to go so absurdly far beyond the required disclosure of national origin?
Today I washed my hair (not at my house) with shampoo which was prominently marked MADE IN THE USA, OF MAINLY US INGREDIENTS, (in both English and French,) complete with a little representation of a wavy American flag. You see this sort of thing all the time.
What the hell? What kind of marketing is this? Is there a large demographic of Canadians who feel that the Canadian dollar is just plain too strong, and consumer choices which help to devalue it are a good thing? Are these products aimed at a lucrative American ex-patriot market that I’m unaware of?
Most people that I know prefer to buy domestic products, if they’re given a choice.
Why do companies label their products this way, when the label is specifically designed for an export market? I can’t really think of any satisfactory explanation.
Are American marketers so used to “Buy American” campaigns that “American Made” seems like an unequivocably good selling point, regardless of the market? I have a hard time thinking that they could be so clueless.
Are non-US consumers so saturated with US media that they are actually responsive to appeals to American patriotism? This seems counter-intuitive, too.
Is there some sort of labelling law here in Canada that demands that Canadian packaging for import products must closely mirror the domestic labels, apart from where they conform to Canadian labelling standards?
I am pretty sure it is required by Canadian law. I believe that in the US it is required that various item have to be marked with the country of manufacture. I would not be surprised if Canadian laws were similar.
I think companies bank on the idea (however erroneous) that inside everyone is an American who is dying to get out. American beer, American cigarettes, Chicago Bulls jerseys, McDonalds…they might not be that far off the track.
My aunt and uncle came back from a New Zeland/Australia trip with a can (yes, a can) of butter prominently labelled as New Zeland Pure Creamery Butter exported by the New Zeland Dairy Board.
For a long time there was (and maybe still is) a campaign going in the US urging consumers to “Buy American,” and lots of companies support it - they’ll be the ones with the little flag.
Can you give anyone an example of what you’re talking about, Larry? The only labels I’m aware of are the little type on the side of the box or product (or on the tag) giving the country of origin.
On the other hand, many American retail businesses and chain restaurants operating in Canada add a maple leaf to their logos, as if tio signify “Yup, McDonald’s really is Canadian, eh?” It’s a concession that US corporations don’t make in other countries.
Sorry Neurotik and scr4, I should have mentioned that, because Canada has two official languages, we have laws requiring English and French bilingual labels on all all packages available for sale here – all copy must be available in both languages, so companies that export to Canada print special Canadian packages. (Except when they export in bulk and the packaging is handled by import companies.)
Especially with the exaggeration sense of ill-feeling between the United States and France you see in the media, it seems a little strange sometimes to see packages that say
(The french is often a bit ‘funny’, too, which tends to irritate francophones.)
Do you really see this sort of thing within the borders of the USA? It never occurred to me that major mainstream American brands might have French bilingual packaging at home – from up here I have had the impression that blingual in the US usually means English/Spanish. (This impression comes largely from Sesame Street & PBS’s SAP programming, so I guess it shouldn’t surprise me if it represents an incomplete view of the picture.) If some US brands do use French on their packages, that would pretty much clear up the mystery for me.
elmwood, it is kind of funny how Canadian franchisees do tend to work a maple-leaf into the logo. Kind of a “Hey! It’s not like all the money that you spend here flows South – this store is putting my kid through university, and providing much needed entry-level jobs to Canadians!” kind of thing.
Canadian products might have a discreet maple leaf or, at most, “made with pride in Canada”. It’s usually pretty subtle. Jingoism in Canada does not exist here at the same level as in the States – people would laugh at a politician who made a speech in front of a hundred foot flag, and the “you must be some pinko if you don’t buy Canadian” mentality isn’t so strong.
But I’m not sure I have seen American products use this as widely as Larry Mudd’s OP implies, either. Once in a while you see it. The bad French has always confused me.
Yup. See this thread from about a year ago: English and FRENCH on U.S. shampoo bottles. The most reasonable explanation is that the shampoo manufacturers want to sell in both the US and Canada without having to go to the trouble and expense of using a special bottle and separate distribution networks for Canada.
I guess it does sound a little emphatic. By “all the time,” I mean in the sense that if you go to the supermarket, you’re bound to see this at least once, not that all American products are labelled this way.
I don’t see that that really applies to drug-store shampoo, though-- it’s not like Detroit produces a better product than Windsor. Sure, people probably place a higher value on a shampoo from a très fru-fru New York salon product, but the upmarket products are the least likely to include that sort of copy on their products.
I don’t think jingoism or even patriotism enters into it. There are practical benefits to buying locally. For quotidian products, there is a tendency to emphasis locality, because of the supposed economic benefits, lower real cost due to shipping expenses, tangible concerns like freshness and quality of produce.
It seems to me that when most people are given the choice between more-or-less similar products, if it enters into their decision at all, they’re much more likely to choose a local product. (I’d bet that its much more common for people to just choose whatever they like best regardless, though.) So it doesn’t make any sense to me for a company to draw unnecessary attention to their nationality.
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Ah… Thanks so much, bibliophage. That’ll fix me for never dreaming someone might have asked a similar question.
Mystery solved.
I suppose the answer should have been obvious. My defense is that the mind control rays that emanate from the flourescent lighting in supermarkets disrupt my ability to think things through. Or something.
