Here are just a few examples from Europe:
- Milka | Mondelez
- Toblerone | Mondelez
- Philadelphia | Mondelez
- LU cookies | Mondelez
- Pampers | Procter & Gamble
- Ariel, Tide | Procter & Gamble
- Oral-B | Procter & Gamble
- Gillette | Procter & Gamble
- Head & Shoulders | Procter & Gamble
- Colgate| Colgate‑Palmolive Company
- Lay’s | PepsiCo
Everytime I hear about Mondelez I remember a job interview I had there. There was a manager and 2 team members and the vibe was horrible. The team members seemed petrified and the manager was so rude. Maybe it was that specific team but I left the interview sure that I would not go to work at mondelez. I couldn’t imagine working with a team with such a vibe. It was weird!
oral-b is popular in germany?, but oral b gouges with thier replacement heads of thier electric toothbrush for USA customers, i buy the international ones where they have it in bulk and much cheaper and seems to last longer too.
some french sounding sparkling water, called perriere i believe a conglemerate owns it in the us.
Cadbury - Kraft
San Pellegrino - Nestlé (I know, not American but Of the Devil).I completely agree with you regarding Nestlé. The fact that it is a European company does not make its practices any better. I see the behavior of the US as an opportunity to rethink my consumption habits anyway—if I am already researching which products to buy, I might as well weed out those suppliers who stand for the same unscrupulous logic: Nestlé is definitely one of them.
So thank you for the additional information.
God dammit! I love San Pellegrino Blood Orange :(
Häagen-Dazs
“Häagen-Dazs” is an invented pseudo-Scandinavian phrase coined by the American Reuben Mattus, in a quest for a brand name that he claimed was Danish-sounding. However, the company’s pronunciation of the name ignores the letters “ä” and “s”, and letters like “ä” or digraphs like “zs” do not exist in Danish.
His daughter Doris Hurley reported in the 1996 PBS documentary An Ice Cream Show that her father sat at the kitchen table for hours saying nonsensical words until he came up with a combination he liked.
Bad brand, but I find it really funny that the CEO just made shit up until he found something that sounded nice
A cream cheese called Philadelphia is not immediately recognizable as American?
It should be, but in many countries around the world, the US was long considered cool, which is why brands were named accordingly - that has changed significantly…
Edit: You know, the orange child molester who blackmails all his allies, shamelessly enriches himself, and gets away with it. The rest of the world just doesn’t think that’s so cool…
I’m not sure I understand how other countries formerly thinking the US is “cool” has anything to do with Philadelphia being recognized as an American name or not.
Cool things sell well. That’s why there are many brands in Europe that sound American but aren’t actually American. Philadelphia, a brand that has been around in Europe for a long time, could just as easily be from a European manufacturer, but that’s not the case.
Another example: In Germany, there are countless pizza delivery services called New York Pizza or something similar. These are, of course, small local companies from Germany that have simply named themselves that way.
Due to the long, close relationship between Europe and the US, this has developed to such an extent that it is now almost impossible to tell from the brand name whether a company is European or not. Now, for obvious reasons, it is unfortunately necessary to boycott US products - which is easier said than done, because US companies own numerous former EU brands that sound European and, on the other hand, many EU companies have given their products American-sounding names.
I’ll admit I also had to do a double take at the thought someone would think Philadelphia wasn’t American, but you’re right in that a lot of products borrow foreign-sounding names because they sound trendy. Something that you are always exposed to can be easy to overlook where it actually comes from. No one should hold that against you.
Not to mention the number of companies that used to be headquartered in one country but moved or were bought out by a foreign one. 7-11 comes to mind as an iconically American convenience store, and they were American, but are now based in Japan and have a much stronger association as a Japanese brand.
LMAO at the edit
Fun fact Philadelphia cream cheese isn’t from Philadelphia.
Source: I live in Philadelphia.
It’s from New York if I recall. At the time of creation (late 1800s), Philly had the reputation of quality \ safe goods, so the inventors wanted to capitalize on that city branding.
- Wilkinson & Sword belongs to Edgewell Care (US)
- Bulldog Razors belong to Edgewll Care (US)
LU cookies (e.g., Leibnitz in Germany) | Mondelez
I’m pretty sure Leibniz Kekse are made by Bahlsen, which is a German company. Or am I missing something?
Sorry, my mistake, that’s right. Leibnitz is owned by Bahlsen, a German family business.
I’ve corrected the description in the post. Thanks for pointing that out.
It’s an easy mistake to make since the Leibniz Kekse were originally copied from LU biscuits, so they look very similar
Heinz beans in the UK is one I often think of.
Yes, Heinz is a US brand that originally belonged to the H. J. Heinz Company and remains a US brand even after the merger with Kraft Foods, also a US company.
Evian?
Evian is owned by Danone (Dannon in some countries), which is a multinational corporation, but one that was founded in Spain and is now headquartered in Paris.
How about Nestle?
They are pure evil, but a company from Switzerland.
Which country are you from? Just so we all know which one not to support when the time to pick teams comes.
Not having imperialist scum like the US in my team sounds like a fucking win to me.
I’m from Canada, but your country is already trying to annex mine. So my boycott of everything American is well fucking justified. Elbows up Canada.
Have a good day.Edit: I withdraw my wish for you to have a good day after your downvote and browsing your comment history.
your country is already trying to annex mine
It literally isn’t.🙄
Even if it’s unlikely to happen, the fact it’s being mentioned at all and the oppositional stance the US has seemingly taken against canada is enough for people (including me!) to want to boycott. Do you try to avoid chinese products?
And… did you read the article? It pretty clearly shows that it’s never going to happen.
