Saturday, July 12, 2008

Is pizza a political statement?



Today Brett and I were in the grocery store and we saw a box of "Big Americans Pizza." Note: that's not "American pizza" or "Big America" pizza - but "Big Americans" (plural) pizza. We laughed and laughed as we read it. You could interpret this package in so many ways. Was it saying Americans are fat? Did the slogan "crispy outside, soft inside" represent how the rest of the world sees us? As all bravado and no spine? And is the fact that it says "Texas" pizza a dig at our current president? Or is it just a strange notion that Texas has the best pizza? It's certainly not the first food that comes to mind when I think of Texas. I will never cease to enjoy looking at the different product packaging here.

I also enjoy looking at the names of stores. On the tram to work I pass by a store called "The Dump Store," and another called "People of the Labrynth." They're both clothing stores, but you wouldn't guess it from the names.

We've also been noting the subtle changes some American brands have made when selling their products overseas. For example - the M&M's packaging has a band of red white and blue at the top representing the Dutch flag, and the M&M's are wearing orange crowns (to associate with the color of the Dutch royal family).

The other thing we noticed is that "Snuggle" the bear of fabric softener fame is here in Amsterdam too - but his name has been changed to "Robijn." I can assure you that despite the name change, he's still doing a good job keeping our clothes "Morgenfris" or "Morning fresh."

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