Made in Country X: Difference between revisions

 

A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Public Medium Ignorance]]. The [[Super-Trope]] to [[Operator From India]].

* Ads for Discover credit cards depict their competitors' customer service support office (USA Prime Credit) as being in [[Ruritania]] staffed by one guy who claims to be "Peggy" and considers a room full of phones on hold to be "beautiful".

 

* ''[[Back to The Future]] Part III'' [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on how nations can change their reputations over time:

{{quote|'''1955 Doc:''' No wonder this circuit failed. It says, "Made in Japan."

* [[Son of the Mask]]: Loki constantly searches both in the Mask Meuseum in Edge City & in every store & house in Fringe City for the Green God-Mask. Every mask he finds are only exotic fake replicas with the engraved words:"Made In Pakistan", The real God- Had a mind of it's own.

 

* In ''[[The IT Crowd]]'', Moss' fire extinguisher ''catches on fire'' as he attempts to use it. He wonders why and then sees the 'made in Britain' label — of course.

* ''[[Outsourced (TV series)]]'' - It's ''about'' a customer service department [[Operator From India|based in India]], and much of the humor lies in the culture shock that its American manager faces on a daily basis.

 

* ''[[Dilbert]]'' has the (fictional) country of [[Ruritania|Elbonia]], home of crappy products and even crappier customer support.

** This is saying something, considering how bad the products and services from Dilbert's own company are and how they are implied to get away with it because the competitors are just as bad. So for there to be a country that makes even ''worse'' products...

 

* An early case in ''[[LA Noire]]'' has somebody insulting a jewelry shop owner by claiming that all of his wares are made in Japan, and thus cheap, nickel-plated crap.

 

* Bender from ''[[Futurama]]'' proudly shows the ''Hecho en Mexico'' label on his compartment door... which then falls off.

** "Enjoy your affordable Swedish crap."

** ''[[The Simpsons]]'' seems to like this gag. In another episode, when Homer is shopping for a new car and looking at [[The Alleged Car|a particularly crappy one]], he asks the salesman what country it was made in, only to be told that said country no longer exists. This was more of a specific jab at the Yugo than at foreign products in general, though.

 

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' In the ''Strong Bad Email'' "[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail190.html licensed]", one of the requirements of becoming an officially licensed unlicensed seller of [[Shoddy Knockoff Product|Shoddy Knockoffs]] of Strong Bad merchandise is that the country of manufacture has to have changed names five times since Strong Bad was in seventh grade.

 

* American beer is also seen as [[A Tankard of Moose Urine|crap]] around the world, by people who know their beer. For a long time, it was also seen as crap ''in America'', but the increasing prominence of craft brews in the American market is changing some minds.

** So is coffee for European tourists in America.

* Any Dutchman will tell you that Gouda that isn't made in the Netherlands is crap and tastes like plastic.

 

* Chinese products, obviously. Many people tend to treat the words "Made in China" as a warning label for poor quality. In particular, Chinese food products (as well as stuff like toothpaste) have a nasty reputation for being tainted with stuff that you don't want in your, your baby's, or your pet's body.

* Prior to [[The Sixties]], it was stuff made in Taiwan or Japan.

 

 

* Car manufacturers from Germany often boast "German Engineering".

** Parodied in the Volkswagen "Unpimp my ride" commercials.

{{quote|'''[[Vince Offer]]''': Made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff.}}

 

* In one episode of ''[[The Beverly Hillbillies]]'', the highest-falutin' grand dame from back home came to visit and critique the Clampetts' lifestyle. She was slightly impressed with the antiques that the Clampetts had in their house, which came from England and France; but ''her'' antiques came from even ''farther'' away — Japan. Cue [[Laugh Track]].

 

* According to ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' supplemental material, Australia discovered "Australium" in the 19th century, causing all the men (and women) there to grow handlebar mustaches and rocketing Australia to a leading position in technological progress.

 

* In ''[[Achewood]]'', anything labeled "Hecho en Mexico" will manifest "Mexican [[Magical Realism]]", which can be as elaborate as [[Time Travel]] or as simple as a van where it rains on the inside.

 

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Lisa never dreamed of Homer's American loaner car designed in Germany, assembled in Mexico from the parts from Canada could be so amazing.

 

* Scotch (Scottish) whisky.

* Swiss or Belgian chocolate.

** The quality of Canadian resources has been celebrated since the nation's inception. The whole country was basically founded on the quality of Canadian beaver pelts, turned into fancy hats, and later, Canadian trees were said to form every mast in the British navy.

 

* Vehicles from Australia, especially four-wheel drive trucks or sport utility trucks, are generally described as being made to survive "harsh Australian conditions". [[Everything Trying to Kill You|All the deadly animals and so forth]].

* In an inversion of the situation with all other consumer autos, most Americans won't take a ''truck'' seriously if it's made by a Japanese automaker. To them, the only ''real'' trucks are made by Ford, GM and Chrysler—or rather, ''one'' of those three, [[Flame War|depending on who you ask]].

* British cars were this before the 1960s, when most of them came under the [[The Alleged Car|British Leyland]] umbrella. See also Country X Art Ghetto section above.

 

* [[Germanic Efficiency|German]] and Japanese products. The cars in particular.

** For photographers, all the best stuff is Made in Germany or Made in Japan. The knock-offs of the German stuff are made in Russia (for some very interesting reasons pertaining to the end of [[World War II]]), and the knock-offs of the Japanese stuff (including many many store-brand cameras using lens mounts varyingly similar to the Pentax K-Mount) tend to be Made in China. For what amazing photography innovations is America known? Disposable cameras.