KennedysOnline

We’ve gotten so used to fake products, I have to admit a moment of hesitation when confronted with genuine Arm and Hammer Baking Soda today.  Now I realize that baking soda is hardly worth writing an entry about – but I wanted to show you how close, yet how far, are most copied products lining the shelves of Chinese stores (and being exported abroad).

Take a look at these two boxes closely.  The hammer & hatchet pictures are almost the same – the box shape, color, design are clearly copied.  But I wonder who they are trying to trick into purchasing this product?  Except for import stores, Chinese shoppers do not have an image of baking soda necessarily coming in an orange box.  So, is it the foreigners that the marketing team at Arm & Hatchet are after?  Will we feel better buying a box that is nearly the same as what we expected (actually, we do) – but CLEARLY not the real thing?

The top of the San He Si Pin (Arm & Hatchet) box is also revealing (double click on the image to enlarge):

It’s these little puzzles that keep life in China so very interesting.