Purchasing Antipathy towards US?

[Frozzy]

I recently did a survey asking people about their opinions of trade, etc. and one of the questions was "What countries, if any do you have reservations about buying from?".

I was startled when roughly half came back a with USA, along with the usual Burmas and Chinas etc.

Why is there this antipathy?

[Ted Striker]

Did they give reasons why?

[Frozzy]

No.

[Ted Striker]

What country are you in?

[Frozzy]

New Zealand.

[Ted Striker]

The answer is obvious to me but I want to hear what the Reactionaries have to say.

[mrmitchell]

Even as a foreigner I would rather buy US products than from the third world and plenty of the first world...despite how it seems, we still have a strong, thriving protection for labor rights, and products made here are just as good as if they were made anywhere else in the world.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I wonder if the people that said the US were wearing US made products or carrying US made technology at the time (or those products under US company's names) .

[BeBMan]

I don't care where it comes from, just if I like it or not. I would not change my buying habits just because of political differences.....except maybe in some extreme cases.

[Tingkai]

Slightly related:


FENGHUA, CHINA—Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets, expressed his disbelief Monday over the "sheer amount of **** Americans will buy."

"Often, when we're assigned a new order for, say, 'salad shooters,' I will say to myself, 'There's no way that anyone will ever buy these,'" Chen said during his lunch break in an open-air courtyard. "One month later, we will receive an order for the same product, but three times the quantity. How can anyone have a need for such useless ****?"

Chen, 23, who has worked as an injection-mold operator at the factory since it opened in 1996, said he frequently asks himself these questions during his workweek, which exceeds 60 hours and earns him the equivalent of $21.

"I hear that Americans can buy anything they want, and I believe it, judging from the things I've made for them," Chen said. "And I also hear that, when they no longer want an item, they simply throw it away. So wasteful and contemptible."

Among the items that Chen has helped create are plastic-bag dispensers, microwave omelet cookers, glow-in-the-dark page magnifiers, Christmas-themed file baskets, animal-shaped contact-lens cases, and adhesive-backed wall hooks.

"Sometimes, an item the factory produces resembles nothing I've ever seen," Chen said. "One time, we made something that looked like a ladle, but it had holes in its cup and a handle that bent down 90 degrees. The foreman told us that it was a soda-can holder for an automobile. If you are lucky enough to own a car, sit back and enjoy the journey. Save the soda beverage for later."

Chen added: "A cup holder is not a necessary thing to own."

Chen expressed similar confusion over the tens of thousands of pineapple corers, plastic eyeshades, toothpick dispensers, and dog pull-toys that he has helped manufacture.

"Why the demand for so many kitchen gadgets?" Chen said. "I can understand having a good wok, a rice cooker, a tea kettle, a hot plate, some utensils, good china, a teapot with a strainer, and maybe a thermos. But all these extra things—where do the Americans put them? How many times will you use a taco-shell holder? 'Oh, I really need this silverware-drawer sorter or I will have fits.' Shut up, stupid American."

Chen added that many of the items break after only a few uses.

"None are built to last very long," Chen said. "That is probably so the Americans can return to buy more. Not even the badly translated assembly instructions deter them. If I bought a kitchen item that came with such poor Mandarin instructions, I would return the item immediately."

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4124&n=1

[Harovan]

Consumer boycotts are stupid, and the only one you hurt with it is yourself.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I wonder if the people that said the US were wearing US made products or carrying US made technology at the time (or those products under US company's names) .

They where probably wearing US brand names that had been made in indonesia.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Consumer boycotts are stupid, and the only one you hurt with it is yourself.

......and unscrupulous exploitive companies and the people who run them(in the long run)

I buy as much 'fairtrade' and local(uk grown) organic food as possible(about 70% of my groceries).

In a consumer driven world i tend to think the consumer boycott is a usefull tool. And i know plenty of people who shop this way

[Provost Harrison]

Bizarre. Despite I object to US foreign policy, in terms of the welfare of it's population it is way above that of China or other such countries. Although I would still rank just about every industrialised nation above it, nonetheless

[Starchild]

Well, I never buy direct from the US because I'm sitting in the EU and there's import tax and stuff to deal with. But I've got no qualms about buying American products from suppliers here.