perhaps i'm spending too much time in my bathroom, but i've suddenly noticed that many of my toiletries have french packaging.
i can understand why lancôme would use french -- they've got that very exotic circumflex.
but why on earth do you think my new origins products have french packaging? from that label, it looks like the company has headquarters in the US, UK, paris and munich. so maybe they save some money by putting two languages on one label? (but where's the german?)
now, i'm not an MBA or anything, but how much extra could it possibly cost to print french labels for french people and english labels for american consumers? it can't cost that much, can it? i'm wondering if there's some less tangible reason to put french on the labels. like, do you think maybe the french text is a complete ruse? like maybe it's used to promote some sort of image? "i use a product that women worldwide use! and the french! they are so beautiful!"
the tampon packaging (pictured above) i feel more certain about. there are three languages on that box. that's efficiency. besides, there's not a whole lot of glam you can give a box of tampons. i'm not sure the whole french mystique thing would work so well with that product.
but supposing for an instant that the french text IS intended only for glamorous effect... well, i have to wonder why the manufacturers of my toilet paper opted for spanish. tp needs all the help it can get, image-wise.
Posted by xta at January 23, 2006 02:18 PM | TrackBackThe package you photographed has English, Spanish and French labelling, which happen to be the three major languages spoken in North America. It's easier to be able to reuse the same packaging for the entire North American market, especially when Canada is going to force them to have both French and English labelling anyway. This has been pretty common for a while. There generally is different packaging for Europe, so no need for German, Italian, etc....
I was just about to say "Canada" too, but I've been beaten to it.
Posted by: Lisa B at January 23, 2006 09:13 PM..and Moisture Lock (tm) is the same in every language.
Posted by: marianne at January 23, 2006 11:34 PMI buy Celetial Seasonings tea at the supermarket. They have the ingredients in seven languages printed on the box! I can recognize English (duh), German, French, Italian, and Spanish. The other two are some Scandinavian language or Dutch or something. The tea boxes come wrapped in plastic and on the outside there is a sticker that has the ingredients listed AGAIN in Hebrew and Arabic!
I hate the Israeli cleaning products and I finally found a place that imports 409. Besides being $5 a bottle, the label is what you might find in the US - it's in English and Spanish but then they cover it up with a big sticker in Hebrew. The same goes for Uncle Ben's rice.
Posted by: John Boy at January 24, 2006 04:33 AMWhen I was in Spain I LOVED going to the grocery store and looking at what their products were called. My favorite is Mr. Clean, who is called "Don Limpio" in Spanish. I have a secret crush on Don Limpio. Oops, I guess it's not secret anymore.
I also think it's interesting how on Spanish-language TV some American brands are pronounced as they are in English, while others (Colgate toothpaste = Col-GA-tay) are said as if they are Spanish words.
Posted by: minty at January 24, 2006 08:14 AMYou would be stunned to learn how many millions of dollars little things that cost a few cents like labels can cost annually.
That is why manufacturers include languages for everyone in their market.
Maybe they think it makes the box look more sophisticated. Do they really need to tout the various fascinating high-tech features of tampons so loudly? Put it on an insert and give me an ATTRACTIVE box, please. In any language. Merci.
Posted by: Penny at January 24, 2006 12:45 PMHey Christa, at least you're not the only one blogging about the packaging of toiletries today:
http://mumpy.typepad.com/gimpy_mumpy/2006/01/extra_body.html
Posted by: Penny at January 24, 2006 04:05 PM