• Bin Laden bread a hit for Malawi bakers
    32 replies, posted
[QUOTE](CNN) -- Naming a product after the world's most notorious terrorist may not seem like a surefire route to commercial success. For bakers in the Malawian city of Blantyre, however, just such a ploy is helping reel in the customers while ensuring that their produce has an unmistakeable identity. "We make bin Laden buns," said Mahomed Hanif Valimamade, co-owner of a patisserie within the city named the Portuguese Bakery. [b]The standard bread rolls -- which are not exclusive to any one company and are produced by a variety of outlets in Blantyre -- were initially given their unconventional moniker by customers who likened their appearance to similar bread made in the Middle East, says Valimamade. The tag quickly caught on, and when businesses realized how their products were being identified, they began to label them as such, to great effect.[/b] On a good day, Valimamade claims, small bakeries like his own can sell as many as 2,000 "bin Ladens," adding that a large part of what makes them stand out is their attention-grabbing title. [b]He is quick to point out, however, that the name has nothing to do with an admiration for or expression of solidarity with the now-deceased al Qaeda figurehead.[/b] "The majority of people like this name," Valimamade explained. "It seems to me this is nothing to do with politics. Malawian people are very pro-Western." Since catching on around the beginning of the Afghan war in 2001, the unlikely success of brand bin Laden has not gone unnoticed by other enterprises in Blantyre. Many have even adopted similar naming conventions for their own products. [b]There are now baked goods and breads named after George W. Bush and Barack Obama, says Valimamade -- although these do not sell as much as bin Laden due to the fact they are slightly smaller. There is also a mobile phone named after the Malawian president, Bingu wa Mutharika.[/b] According to Valimamade, such creative naming policies are a source of fun and frivolity that emphasize Malawians' "unique sense of humor." To other local business analysts, however, they represent a savvy adaptation to customer identification processes by businesses keen to give their products a competitive edge. "The naming, though often spontaneous and accidental, is appealing" to local customers, said Collins Namakhwa, a lecturer in marketing and branding at Malawi Polytechnic University in Blantyre. "In Malawi, people are so taken up by the popular frenzy that they may try a product just because it is popular," he added. Namakhwa explains that businesses that have renamed their products to take on names like "bin Laden" and "Obama" are able to tap into socially driven events or popular trends that resonate with consumers in their daily lives. [b]This, he says, makes the items more recognizable, easier to distinguish than their more conventionally titled competitors and, most important, more likely to sell.[/b] But while enthusiastic about the creativity of Blantyre's businessmen, Namakhwa is aware that outside observers may see it as tasteless -- and bad business practice -- to name products after figures such as Bush and bin Laden. The intricacies and complexities of Malawi's marketplace, however, as well as its isolation from the subjects of their naming policies, ensure that any negative connotations present in other environments are irrelevant, says Namakhwa. "In Malawi, the strength of political opinion against a controversial figure is not as high as in the Western world," he said. He added that external factors such as a decline in Obama's popularity in America would not necessarily lead Malawians to stop buying a bread named after him in their country. Valimamade agrees, saying that even though some may react negatively to the product titles, the majority of local people will continue to demand or react positively to them. As long as there is competition to create attractive products, he said, "this type of name will always exist, (and) as a business, we must follow the winds." [img]http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111124011114-bin-laden-bread-story-top.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/30/world/africa/bin-laden-bread/index.html?hpt=hp_bn4[/url] This is as humorous as it is...weird.
so he lives on, in our stomach
[QUOTE=VaSTinY;33506396]so he lives on, in our stomach[/QUOTE] Is this...like communion? :v:
Bin Laden seems to sell more the George Bush & Obama bread...
Its laced with explosives Heh, explosive diarrhea
[QUOTE=ejonkou;33506456]Bin Laden seems to sell more the George Bush & Obama bread...[/QUOTE] How interesting... maybe there is a secret ingredient in it...
I'd buy it, --INGREDIENTS-- "Osama's secret recipe"
When will you westerners and non-arabs ever learn that the name BIN LADEN is the FATHER OF OSAMA! Why can't you pronounce that terrorist name by his first name which is forever be OSAMA. Bin Laden is his dad. DAD! Arab name their children by First name followed by their Father's name hence OSAMA bin LADEN or Osama, the son of Laden. Plus Osama is an asshole to his father's name even in his death. Some son he turn out to be.
[QUOTE=BCell;33506724]When will you westerners and non-arabs ever learn that the name BIN LADEN is the FATHER OF OSAMA! Why can't you pronounce that terrorist name by his first name which is forever be OSAMA. Bin Laden is his dad. DAD! Arab name their children by First name followed by their Father's name hence OSAMA bin LADEN or Osama, the son of Laden. Plus Osama is an asshole to his father's name even in his death. Some son he turn out to be.[/QUOTE] In the west he is commonly known as Bin Laden, Osama, Osama Bin Laden. I'm pretty sure most of us know that the Bin Laden family is pretty large.
[QUOTE=BCell;33506724]When will you westerners and non-arabs ever learn that the name BIN LADEN is the FATHER OF OSAMA! Why can't you pronounce that terrorist name by his first name which is forever be OSAMA. Bin Laden is his dad. DAD! Arab name their children by First name followed by their Father's name hence OSAMA bin LADEN or Osama, the son of Laden. Plus Osama is an asshole to his father's name even in his death. Some son he turn out to be.[/QUOTE] Because we call all of our politicians by their last names too
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;33506423]Is this...like communion? :v:[/QUOTE] What? [I]Oh god...[/I] [h2]CANNOT BE UN-THOUGHT-[/h2] :suicide:
The taste just explodes in your mouth! It's like a shot to the head really ZING ME DAMMIT
[IMG]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SaTR7sIR-_4/TcoieI95WyI/AAAAAAAAACI/UQSC613tWlw/s1600/Osama+Bin+Laden+on+bread.jpg[/IMG]
So it's just bread with "Bin Laden" slapped on it? Is that legal?
[QUOTE=Badunkadunk;33507831]So it's just bread with "Bin Laden" slapped on it? Is that legal?[/QUOTE] Why would it be illegal?
Around Cambridge, near harvard, there's a burger joint I go to all the time. It's called bartleys, and it has a huge amount of burgers named after people. Presidents, actors, athletes, random stuff. I'm pretty sure there was a Bin Laden, so this isn't a new tatic.
But a Hitler bread would be taboo.
[QUOTE=Chrille;33508077]But a Hitler bread would be taboo.[/QUOTE] I don't think they have the necessary ovens to make a Hitler bread.
[QUOTE=Chrille;33508077]But a Hitler bread would be taboo.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://musicmazaa.com/images/joke/funnyimages/hitler-bread.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=darth-veger;33508201][IMG]http://musicmazaa.com/images/joke/funnyimages/hitler-bread.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] This shouldn't have been that hilarious. I want a hitler toaster now!
[QUOTE=Pappa Smurf;33507975]Why would it be illegal?[/QUOTE] Why would it be legal?
[QUOTE=darth-veger;33508201][IMG]http://musicmazaa.com/images/joke/funnyimages/hitler-bread.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] I need that bread...NOW!
[QUOTE=Pappa Smurf;33507975]Why would it be illegal?[/QUOTE] I thought there was some law forbidding you from giving a misleading title or just renaming something without actually doing anything to it, or even just false advertisement. This is clearly not Osama related at all and if he were alive you know he could easily sue them over it.
I'd prefer a "bun Laden"
[QUOTE=Badunkadunk;33510231]I thought there was some law forbidding you from giving a misleading title or just renaming something without actually doing anything to it, or even just false advertisement. This is clearly not Osama related at all and if he were alive you know he could easily sue them over it.[/QUOTE] It's not advertising, the bread is called Bin Laden bread. Just like I know a place that sells Nixon burgers and Obama burgers. There is no law forbidding it (even if there was, the article states that they are from Malawi, and what you're talking about would be a US law)
That bread would make a mighty good sandwich.
Osama bin rollin' the dough before he died.
"Bun Ladens" I'd call them. Edit: Curses, ninja'd...
Imagine that in America.
[QUOTE=BCell;33506724]When will you westerners and non-arabs ever learn that the name BIN LADEN is the FATHER OF OSAMA! Why can't you pronounce that terrorist name by his first name which is forever be OSAMA. Bin Laden is his dad. DAD! Arab name their children by First name followed by their Father's name hence OSAMA bin LADEN or Osama, the son of Laden. Plus Osama is an asshole to his father's name even in his death. Some son he turn out to be.[/QUOTE] Because Osama is a common Arabic name that could apply to anybody. bin Laden is a name that almost exclusively refers to the infamous bin Laden family, of which Osama bin Laden is the most well-known.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.