Monday, March 12, 2007
Buy American
This has also come up in class - the labels that actually say "Made in America." The first site I have to offer you is one that advertises Buy American. The second site I offer you is a government site about the standards associated with the "Made in America" label. Interesting...I didn't think something like that would have to be defined so clearly - almost as though there may be fine lines separating something that was actually made in America from something else that was only sort of made in America.
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9 comments:
Before there was a government ‘standard’, it was discovered that many items had labels that said ‘Made in USA’ and in fact were NOT made in the United States of America.
This happened when a city in Japan changed its name to USA (you-saa).
Brownie points to the Japanese for thinking up this one.
Don.
In response to Don’s comment, I think it’s absolutely crazy how far people will go to sell their product. I mean renaming an entire city is pretty extreme! I wonder how many other companies, aside from where it was made, adjust the displayed label or information to help move product.
Daniela
I read the analgesic (active ingredient in Ben-Gay/Mineral Ice/Thera-gesic) article. What I get from it, is that all the ingredients used to make this product aren't domestic, therefore, not made in the U.S.A. I say you can pretty much pick out ANYTHING in a store and chances are, it's not made here. If it is, of course it's going to have cheaper parts made else where, it's the corporate way, right? So as long as mineral ice keeps my shoulder from hurting, I don't care, which I think is the right way to go about it. In a Nation where everyone is trying to get ahead of the other guy, why on earth would you have something "Made in the U.S.A." when you can get it somewhere else for half the price?
Scott
Susan Tyner said:
I read the link to the analgesic products as well. As a nurse I can tell you that many modern pharmaceuticals are still made from organic materials, albeit in a highly refined form. Those which are synthesized in the laboratory still need the naturally-occuring compound to be used as a model and for other testing. Many of the most useful of these natural ingredients cannot be grown in the USA because of climate, hence, we have imported these raw materials from foreign countries since the days of the colonial apothecaries.
The standards for labeling "Made in USA" seem unnecessarily stringent to me.
Teena-
I find it funny the guidlines for the label are so stringent as if they're trying to protect the consumer. When they dont have as stringent guidelines for credit card companies that jack your interest up to 32% (ex: citi cards) when you fall past due. Why do they protect us in some ways and not in others.
The world is becoming smaller it seems. I try not to take those "made in" labels too literally(unless it's a jar of salsa that says 'Henche en Mexico').
I mean Toyota makes their transmissions in the U.S., and Volkswagon assembles their cars in Mexico. The textiles that make up my pants probably came from India or Nepal, but they were produced in Guatamala. It seems to me that the assembly line has gone global. I think fewer and fewer items actually have a single country of origin.
This post is closed.
Angela
Thats fine that we all want to buy american but what is it that we make besides vehicles. What gets me is when you get something like a piece of clothing and it says made in china or made in mexico. And then we go and try to buy a vehicle and we think we buying american but the only thing american is the shell. For example I went to buy a mini van and it was a plemouth and we opened the hood and it had a japanese engine in it. So much for buying american. I just think we should start trying to make everything here so we don't have to buy anything anywhere elese. Rosie
I myself have always been hesitant to buy anything that has the made in america label. so much of our stuff comes from outside sorces. how do we really know what they are claiming is true? not to mention part of the product could be made here where others are not. like with pharmaceuticals and the makeup products
morgan
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