Amul (an indian milk products firm) coming to Walmart

That is some news for me according to this link. I like their ice creams, I hope they also end up in Walmart isles soon.

I like their hoardings.







(during Russian leader visit!!)




[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza

[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza ]
[ July 13, 2004: Message edited by: Arjun Shastry ]

so now the US are outsourcing their agriculture as well, after steel, electronics, automobiles, and IT?

Outsourcing? and agriculture?Importing some products from a company who is negligible in terms of revenue and profit as compared to international firms is outsourcing?

yes, that's how it started in the steel industry too.
First companies that used to buy steel from local mills start buying from larger SE Asian mills because it's cheaper, next the large mills move production abroad.

In IT it started like that too...

There is no comparison between steel and agriculture industry.To import sizable milk products from outside country will involve lot of money on both the sides.You can't transfer Chocolates across the sea via ftp.Also you can't keep milk products in custom clearance for hours.Airtime from India to Europe is 7 hours and 18 hours to USA nonstop.Some attempts have been made mainly to export flowers from here.Export is negligible bcos of lot of constraints.So I think only negligible amount will be exported if everything in chain goes well without timedelay and milk product passes the quality standard.
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza ]

I also like their commercials. They have amazing sense of humor and timing.

Guess Bharat Dabholkar was/is invloved in most of the Amul commercials.

- Manish

you can compare dairy with steel.
Steel too you can't just ftp over... Steel too can't sit in customs clearing for days because the customer can't afford to wait that long (that's why laborious customs inspections are such a nasty way to make imports difficult without openly proclaiming restrictions).
If transported chilled dairy products can easily be flown in from India.
Dairy products trucked across Europe so we can have Italian and Spanish yoghurt in stores spend longer in transit on the highways than would milk shipped from India to the US by aircraft.
Chocolate is even easier, it can last for months without going bad.

As to flowers: every day at least one, sometimes two, aircraft full of flowers arrive in Amsterdam from Africa.
The flowers often never even leave the airport, they're sold off at a nearby wholesale market and shipped out again to customers all over the world.
This operation was started by a group of flower growers here that found that it was cheaper to grow flowers in Nigeria and fly them in then to grow them locally because of the high realestate and labour cost.
They make a handy profit on the operation.

Originally posted by Kishore Dandu:
Yo, you still continuing the anti-india banter ha!!!

I dont think Jeroen is "continuing" anti-India "banter". Please stop making accusatory / inflammatory statements simply because you may disagree with his viewpoint. I dont agree with Jeroen on this issue but by no means is any of his posts "banter" or "anti-India".

Originally posted by Paul McKenna:


I dont think Jeroen is "continuing" anti-India "banter". Please stop making accusatory / inflammatory statements simply because you may disagree with his viewpoint. I dont agree with Jeroen on this issue but by no means is any of his posts "banter" or "anti-India".

What are u talking about??? [ EJFH: removed unnecessary comment ]
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ernest Friedman-Hill ]

.Paul,what happened?There are two possibilities:
1)Paul wants to flame the discussion
2)Kishore has deleted that message.
Only Administrator can throw some light on this.I am leaving now.Will be back after 2 hours!
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza ]

Two hours ...that is a long wait.

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
so now the US are outsourcing their agriculture as well, after steel, electronics, automobiles, and IT?

So, basically, US shouldn't import any ag stuff from India (or any other non European country) but has every right to export their stuff to any and every country that they want to? :roll:

I don't understand why, when companies around the world are exporting their goods/products to other countries, India should not be able to do so with regard to US.

Have we reached a point where anything that India wants to/tries to export to US is automatically a bad/wrong thing? Should US shut its economic borders to incoming Indian goods/products but keep the outgoing borders open?

Folks --

Calm down, y'all. You wanna talk about milk? Fine. You wanna talk about trade policy? Fine, if you do it nicely. But I don't want to see sarcasm, or personal comments. And I don't want to see anybody assuming that because one person says something, that they speak for their entire nation. If y'all can't keep this nice and civil-like, I'm going to close 'er down.

First, please note that Jeroen is not an American. He lives in Germany.

As far as importing agricultural products, we do a lot of that. We import fruit from South America (especially Chile) during the US off-season (when it is winter in the US it is summer in Chile). They aren't quite as good because they have to be picked sooner but it's nice to eat a fresh plum or nectarine in December. Of course, we import coffee from around the world. And wine. And cheese. And rice. And lots of different spices. In other words, we import tons of agricultural products.

Importing milk is a bit tricky. Milk has a very short shelf life (in fact the US has very strict laws about how long milk can be sold from the time it is removed from the cow). Also, America is a huge, highly competitive dairy country so it would be virtually impossible to compete on price. I would think that Amul may be able to get a small portion of the US market. Interestinglt, the fastest growing portion of the US milk market is in organic milk. That is, milk from cows that are not given antibiotics or growth hormones and are only grass fed. Does Amul sell organic milk?

First, please note that Jeroen is not an American. He lives in Germany.

Err, Dutch != Deutsch. Jeroen is in the Netherlands. You know, one of those Scandahoovian countries.
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

I think this thread was created for some another reason.Amul is exporter of milk products since last 8 years.
Amul Exports major milk products except milk for obivious reasons.

Here is their page of exports to the US:

http://www.amul.com/exports-us.html

I know what butter and cheese are. Perhaps someone could describe the other products. I'll bet these are most popular with the many Indians who moved to the USA.

Could someone explain the "scars and stripes" ad? Seems offensive to me.

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
Could someone explain the "scars and stripes" ad? Seems offensive to me.

I agree! That ad is definetly offensive unless it was designed to appeal to anti-US elements.

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
I know what butter and cheese are. Perhaps someone could describe the other products. I'll bet these are most popular with the many Indians who moved to the USA.[/QB]

Amul / Sagar Pure Ghee - Ghee is made by melting butter. It is added to plain rice to give it a flavour

Amul Mithaee Gulab Jamuns - Sweet dish.. very popular in the Indian community

Amul Shrikhand - My favourite and the sweetest of sweet dishes in India. You really need to be able to tolerate high levels of sweetness to have this dish. (and also be lactose tolerant)

The "The Ayatollah Khomeni enjoys our butter" one isn't exactly fit for the pages of Ladies' Home Journal, either.

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
That is, milk from cows that are not given antibiotics or growth hormones and are only grass fed. Does Amul sell organic milk?[/QB]

Sure the cows are not given any growth hormones or antibiotics etc. but no one knows what they eat.

Secondly, I'm sure Amul isnt targetting these exports at Americans per se.. but at Indian expats. I personally have no preference when it comes to things like butter and cheese but I prefer Indian jams. They have more varieties compared to the American manufacturers. I am yet to find an American equivalent for the "Mixed Fruit Jam".

Here are few better ones..



[when Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space on the Russian Soyuz]



On John McEnroe and his on-court language



After 9/11 - Translation - Terrorism will no longer be tolerated
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Paul McKenna ]

Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
Err, Dutch != Deutsch. Jeroen is in the Netherlands. You know, one of those Scandahoovian countries.

Ack! I was thinking of Axel. At least I knew he wasn't an American!

Originally posted by Paul McKenna:

After 9/11 - Translation - Terrorism will no longer be tolerated

Oh, man. You could write an entire doctoral dissertation on cultural differences in the appreciation of humor as represented in these ads.

Really makes me stop and think about how American advertising is perceived by other cultures. It prolly ain't pretty.

Originally posted by Paul McKenna:



After 9/11 - Translation - Terrorism will no longer be tolerated

[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Paul McKenna ]

Actually Translation : Terrorism will not be attained now.

To really get this one, one must know some hindi/urdu. In hindi/urdu 'kabool' means attained. A play on words between this word & Kaabul, the Afghanistan capital.

Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
The "The Ayatollah Khomeni enjoys our butter" one isn't exactly fit for the pages of Ladies' Home Journal, either.

Almost all of Amul's ads evidently have hindi flavor to them. The khomeini ad says "Khao many ...". In hindi, 'khaa-o' means 'eat'.

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
First, please note that Jeroen is not an American. He lives in Germany.

As far as importing agricultural products, we do a lot of that. We import fruit from South America (especially Chile) during the US off-season (when it is winter in the US it is summer in Chile). They aren't quite as good because they have to be picked sooner but it's nice to eat a fresh plum or nectarine in December. Of course, we import coffee from around the world. And wine. And cheese. And rice. And lots of different spices. In other words, we import tons of agricultural products.

Importing milk is a bit tricky. Milk has a very short shelf life (in fact the US has very strict laws about how long milk can be sold from the time it is removed from the cow). Also, America is a huge, highly competitive dairy country so it would be virtually impossible to compete on price. I would think that Amul may be able to get a small portion of the US market. Interestinglt, the fastest growing portion of the US milk market is in organic milk. That is, milk from cows that are not given antibiotics or growth hormones and are only grass fed. Does Amul sell organic milk?

I take it that this was in response to my somewhat sarcarstic response to JW's post. I know JW is Dutch. And I also know that US does import a fair amount of ag products from Mexico & other S.Am. countries. My post was, I admit it, reactive to the perceived (by me) tone of his post. It is quite likely that my perception meter has been off kilter; I've been spending most my last 3 weekends in the attic inhaling the insulation dust (even through the painter's mask).

Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Oh, man. You could write an entire doctoral dissertation on cultural differences in the appreciation of humor as represented in these ads.

Really makes me stop and think about how American advertising is perceived by other cultures. It prolly ain't pretty.

Ok.. now thats a half-statement. You gave an idea.. now elaborate. Did you find the 9/11 ad offensive or humourous? And why do you think American advertising is not percieved well in other cultures?

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
Could someone explain the "scars and stripes" ad? Seems offensive to me.

I was hoping someone could explain it to me, too!

I don't understand that ad. I am a tad reluctant to believe that a company of that size & presence would target America/Americans in such an offensive manner. Does anyone know when this ad was aired?

Cap, can you shed some light on this, since you posted it?

Originally posted by Sadanand Murthy:
I was hoping someone could explain it to me, too!

I checked the Amul website and the explanation given below the image was:

Babaric atrocities of Iraq's prisoners of wars by US army - May'04

Sadanand Murthy:
To really get this one, one must know some hindi/urdu. In hindi/urdu 'kabool' means attained. A play on words between this word & Kaabul, the Afghanistan capital.


Attained? kabool means to accept, Sadanand.

Terrorism will not be accepted (as a regular thing as it used to be) anymore. Also, I don't know the exact dates or the explanation they provided, but I believe that the ad came out NOT imediately after 9/11, but after US retaliation and may be after Musharraf's agreeing to the US pressure that terrorism will not be accepted anymore the way it used be by him. Remember Mussarraf's millitary supported Taliban. And also that US will not turn a blind eye to certain activities in Pakistan regarding Kabul or Taliban from now on)

It isn't plain funny humor about the sad events based on cultural differences. It is sarcastic and political. I think most people took it that way. Kind of laughing out the complex emotions that some on the other side of the planet go through. Emotions about the world events they wanted to control since ages but could not. But atleast now, terrorism will not be accepted or tolarated. Or so the people hope.

[EDIT:]Forgot to add an important context: The word 'Kabool' is very important during a marriage according to the Islam faith. They say the word (three times?) to accept the bride/groom, just like Christians say 'I do' (once?) while accepting a marriage in a Church.

"Terrorism ab kabul nahi hoga' can also be interpreted as- The marriage between terrorism and fundamentalists in Afghanistan is over.
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Bhau Mhatre ]

Originally posted by Sadanand Murthy:



Almost all of Amul's ads evidently have hindi flavor to them. The khomeini ad says "Khao many ...". In hindi, 'khaa-o' means 'eat'.

Laden with taste - the hindi flavour ?

Laden could mean hampered or fully-charged.

burdened, charged, cumbered, encumbered, fraught, freighted, full-charged, full-fraught, hampered, heavy-laden, loaded, oppressed, overburdened, overcharged, overfraught, overfreighted, overladen, overloaded, overtaxed, overweighted, saddled, supercharged, taxed, weighted, weighted down

Originally posted by Bhau Mhatre:
Sadanand Murthy:
To really get this one, one must know some hindi/urdu. In hindi/urdu 'kabool' means attained. A play on words between this word & Kaabul, the Afghanistan capital.


Attained? kabool means to accept, Sadanand.
[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Bhau Mhatre ]

I stand corrected. Thanks, bro

Originally posted by Paul McKenna:
Ok.. now thats a half-statement. You gave an idea.. now elaborate. Did you find the 9/11 ad offensive or humourous? And why do you think American advertising is not percieved well in other cultures?

It's not offensive to me personally, but neither is it funny. I can see where some Americans would find it offensive, and I can say with certainty that no American ad agency would ever create an ad that deliberately associated their product with bin Laden, triple-pun or not. And the Ayatollah one is even worse -- at least the bin Laden one doesn't show Osama with a mouth full of paneer. Both of these ads would have a serious negative effect on sales in this country. So would the "taste tube baby" one -- people here want "natural" foods and have come to distrust scientists vis-a-vis food products.

In large part, I'm sure, the reason the bin Laden and Khomeni ads fly in India is because neither of these characters is demonized in India the way they are here. But there's definitely something else in the flavor of the humor that's just... well, foreign to me. I'm not a sociologist, but as I said, I think sociologists would have fun explaining what that difference actually is.

Now, I have to say on a purely intellectual level, it's interesting the way that several of these ads apparently include these three-way puns: puns on someone's name in two different languages at once. You'd never see that in America -- there aren't enough bilingual people.

What do I think about American advertising overseas? I'm trying to picture how folks in a conservative Muslim country would react to any randomly chosen American beer ad. Not pretty, I'm sure.

I think most Brits find European mainly Scndinavian ads offensive.

They usually go down the Road Not Taken here. But we get to see them sometimes on Chris Tarrant's show and be thankful that we don't have to see them all the time..

If they were aired here they definitely would put people off the products.
Brits probably make the least controversial ads.

Lets see what would be controversial in a British ad....

Children�s charity Barnardo�s used a series of shocking images in the campaign to highlight child poverty in the UK.

The adverts, which included a computer-generated photograph of a newborn baby with a cockroach crawling out of his mouth, sparked 466 complaints from members of the public to the Advertising Standards Authority � the highest this year.

Shock Images

The Department of Health's advert featuring a "sex lottery" scratchcard. That passed actually.
CAUGHT THE LOTT ? Your chances of catching something in the lottery are so surprisingly high.


the owners of French Connection had when they changed their name to French Connection UK or FCUK, permanently throughout the world.

If Mike Newman�s ad was a detonator then this was a nuclear blast, only it continues to go off every single day.

Since their launch 4 or 5 years ago they have reaped millions of dollars worth of free publicity just for being called a misspelt expletive. Who had ever heard of French Connection? TBWA London added the U.K. The popularity of the campaign that followed has created one of the biggest selling brands in the world. A few weeks ago in London, a juror at a crown court in Wales wore his Fcuk t-shirt to court. When the judge spotted the logo, he immediately dismissed him. The judge told barristers, �The misspelling of a basic Anglo Saxon word on a garment hardly dignifies court proceedings. It is beyond me why anyone can think they should wear anything like that in public, particularly in court�.

The Criminal Law Solicitor�s Association said: �It raises the question of whether the judge understood what the t-shirt was all about. It would be more helpful if someone explained to the judge that it was a very clever marketing ploy.
Thank you Judge Daniel.Slaes increased by 3% worldwide.
[ June 09, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

Amul too have some non-Indian ads on back of butter pack.Let me know if they are offensive.

Jimmy Carter 1979


An English girl married a Calcutta rickshaw-wala. (1982)


Margaret Thatcher of the Tory party elected as a first woman Prime Minister of England(1982)


Virgin test for Indian women at the airport in London.(1982)


(CIA accuses Shri Morarji Desai(former PM India) of corruption(1983)


Japan's Prime Minister implicated in Industrial bribes(1983-84)


Americans boycott the Moscow Olympics.



Chinese students revolt against the communist government of China in Tianammen Square (1989)



Operation Desert Storm (1990)

A comment on the political situation in Britain. Its Ms. Margaret Thathcer and Mr. John Major (1990)



The political crisis during the Gulf War



(When Lady Di's extra-marital affair was brought into the open)

[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza ]

[ June 08, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza ]
[ June 09, 2004: Message edited by: Ram Abdullah D'Souza ]

It's strange that ppl get offended when there's even remote hint of satire against American violence. I remember few days ago somebody posted direct pics of violence in India and got away with it!!!

- Manish

I must say I find most of their ads rather funny.
Must be because centuries of British rule have heavily influenced India and I love British humour.

The "scars and stripes" is indeed downright offensive and can be meant as nothing else.

Yes, advertising is highly localised and influenced by culture.
Comparative advertising naming competing products and brands by name if frowned upon here (and was until recently actually forbidden).
Most companies that do it feel a backlash in short term sales as customers shy away (especially if it is done in bad taste).
A very effective way around it was an ad by Volkswagen depicting their Golf automobile being followed around by several dozen golfballs in different colours. The spoken text clearly linked these to their competitors by stating something like "wherever the Golf leads the competition follows", hinting that all other cars in the class are just cheap copies without ever saying it