Thursday, March 12, 2009

Would you buy this product?

If you're Asian would you buy this product?

The Tag line on their website
Chinese girl meets Jewish boy... and Soy Vay! All natural, kosher sauces, marinades and dressings since 1982.
It just seems a little wrong to me.

14 comments:

Dale said...

Hmm, talk about a niche market...

Martha said...

Well, fusion is always popular!

Katharine said...

what's wrong about it?

Anonymous said...

Asian girls are going for Jewish boys too? Damn.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you're Jewish and follow all kosher laws, then you'd definitely buy it.

As a non-Jewish Asian, probably not.

Martha said...

I'm still not understanding the reason to NOT buy this product.

Morris said...

The product is not Asian enough for me. The people who created this product might have thought that the whole Jewish boy/Asian girl thing was cute, I found it a turn-off.

Morris said...

Can you imagine a company marketing a BBQ sauce where the tag line is white girl meets Black Guy...

Dale said...

Morris, responding to your comparison of "Asian girl meets Jewish guy" to "black guy meets white girl" you can think of it two ways:

Asian girl meets Jewish guy is like black guy meets white girl: You should be offended

Black guy meets white girl is like Asian girl meets Jewish guy: It's a cute story.

I think we should work on getting the world to the second scenario instead of focusing on the first one.

Morris said...

Dale,

Do you think Jews would find the story of Asian girl meets Jewish Boy cute on a package of Matza?

More importantly, do you think they would sell more or less Matza with the story on it?

Clearly, this product is being marketed to non-Asians who may think this story is cute. Asians at best would see the story with ambivalence. Add that to the question of authenticity. Is this a product designed for the Asian palate?

When branding a product, you want people to feel good about the product and its branding story. I don't have to hate a product not to buy it, just feel a little less good about this product than the product next to it.

Martha said...

I don't get it. A person who developed the product is Asian. How is that not Asian enough for you? Just because she married a Jewish person??? How much more of a direct link do you want?

This reminds me of Kathy's musings on the authenticity of food. When she moves to Moldova and she bakes an apple pie, everyone's going to marvel at how authentic this American stereotype must be. Nevermind the chic can't cook, will likely end up with mushy, flavorless apples in a simultaneously raw yet burnt crust. It'll be a crappy rendition compared to American standards, but to the unknowing, it must be truly American since Kathy's truly American. Yet it'd likely be crap b/c she can't cook.
On the other hand, I guarantee you that with a little work, I could cook Chinese food better than Alvin can. Are you implying, then, that his would be automatically better solely b/c his parents were born in China and therefore HE is more Asian? Disregarding any research I may have put into my developments?

There are many reasons to NOT buy any product, but just because the Asian and Jew married and made a Kosher Asian Sauce is not a strong argument. Ironically, I bet if you look at authentic Asian product, I bet many are Kosher. Kosher law is not used by just Jewish consumers, though it obviously is based on Jewish law and involves the Rabbi's oversight. Many vegans and vegetarians also use the information.

Morris said...

Getting back to the title of this entry.

"Would you buy this product?"

The answer for me is no. For some of you it's yes, and that's perfectly fine with me.

I have no idea of whether it was the Asian woman or the Jewish guy or a really, really smart robot who created the product. That doesn't matter. To me, the product doesn't look Asian and the fact that they tout its dual heritage doesn't help to sway me.

Does it have to be logical? No. But, since we're talking about a bottle of teriyaki sauce and NOT race relations, do you really need a "strong" reason not to buy any product? No. Companies spend a lot of money trying to eliminate reasons for people not to buy their product.

I don't think I'm the target market for this product, and that's perfectly fine.

I would venture to guess that a majority of Asian people would not buy this product for some of the reasons I have given.

Martha said...

It's a step backwards to ending racism with statements like that. You're asbolutely right, there are millions of reasons to NOT buy it. But announcing that THE reason (or a primary reason) is because of race - that is proof of WHY racism is still prevalent today. Sure, you used that reasoning for something seemingly insignificant as to what to buy at the grocery store or not...others use the EXACT SAME REASONING to not hire someone, not respect someone, not give someone a chance, not give them the A they deserve, etc. Where does one draw the line? Why is it okay in some situations but not others? Yea. It's too fuzzy.

deborah said...

Speaking of kosher, what is and is not, yummy favorites from both worlds http://tinyurl.com/jewishfood but how can this ever go kosher?