I do try to be patient with the local approach to buying – ideas as well as products. I come up against it a lot in terms of the way people believe children should be fat to be healthy and the fatalist view of everything in life.
So, when I saw this dandy below at the supermarket last weekend, I was reminded of just how powerful ideas and being critical about them are:
- ‘Brain Nourishment’ is what it’s called in English – apparently it helps you get a really massive diploma when you graduate
This drink mix contains only egg yolk and powered milk and costs nearly 5 USD for a small can. It’s being marketed directly to Vietnamese consumers who prize education achievements among many other things and especially for their children and grandchildren, hence the use of a young woman in the design.
This sort of baseless-claim advertising and marketing in Vietnam is very common and is costing people precious resources they could be putting into far more productive things like basic preventative healthcare (also quite expensive relatively compared to the average person’s income here).
– Dave
David and Lam 