Had a scan through the SnuffReviews site and came across many new brands. What arrested my attention are the names some manufacturers use to entice an obvious American market: Wow! Apple Pie, Rockit Cherry Pop or FUBAR Grunt, etc. These names are very suggestive and hint at how Americans are perceived overseas. The USA might be a nation of pastiche, but not all her citizens are unsophisticated ephemeral teenagers with avoirdupois, angst and acne. Surely not. As a UK citizen I’d certainly be irritated if a foreign company marketed snuffs called Tally-ho! Jeeves Special or Tiffin Snuff. Perhaps I’m just being cantankerous?

I on the other hand would sniff such snuffs up.

And once again the stereotypes about British people are fulfilled…

All that is the result of contracting Dholakia to make snuff for the U.S. market. I was a little perturbed at the time due to the obvious red flag that would be raised by marketing towards youngsters. No way this stuff gets past the FDA now that they have a say. The FUBAR line is gimmicky too, but the snuff is pretty good, still, the name suggests little respect for the sacred herb culture. I do applaud the efforts of Dholakia and their well made snuffs, but I do not agree with some of the choices made by those who are marketing them. I think it was MR. Snuff who contracted Dholakia, or maybe Tom at nicotine rush, or maybe both of them. They were probably looking at US tobacco trends at the time. I must say I was personally offended by the sheer shallowness of these offerings.

I don’t really mind the names to be honest or the selections. I actualy like fubar as a name for a snuff. Especialy since it’s a diffrent image then the posh european image that dominates snuff (rightfully so). I still have to admit I’ve not tried the wows or temptations most of the flavors don’t apeal to me much.

Being an American, I take no offense what so ever. I, and my girlfriend, really like FUBAR, the Temptation line (or few of it I’ve tried), is really good, but the WOW isn’t quite as nice. I think some of you people need to not look so deeply into things.

I am an American and enjoy the fubar grunt. Only because a friend reccomended it. I wouldn’t of ordered it otherwise because it is a bit goofy I mean come on… Camo tin? I skipped passed the Wow! or Rockit just because of the name. They may be good snuffs I have no idea. I just think if that’s the best name they could think of for their product the snuff itself can’t be that great.

When I’m spending my hard earned money on a product I want what I perceive to be the finest I can get my hands on. When I first started snuffing it was no contest, a demure, understated tin of WoS or a product like FUBAR where the advertising spiel is telling me “it will blow your head off”? I’ve later found out that some of these garishly marketed snuffs are great, but when I was just entering into what I perceived to be a refined and noble pastime, the likes of Zuka and FUBAR (which seem to be playing up on the similarities between snuff and a certain illicit substance) came across as trashy and inferior products.

I think sometimes its hard to distinguish youth culture from American culture, mainly due to the power of media and marketing. There is a huge difference though.

"And once again the stereotypes about British people are fulfilled… " Stereotyping works both ways, John. Take one example out of many: in the Hollywood/Disney films that murder history the good characters are always American while the bad are invariably RP (the accent of evil) speaking British. In general, a British actor or voiceover is almost a perquisite for the portrayal of the cunning and ruthless, whose villainy is finally thwarted by an American hero.

murder thats the nice way to put it.

“I think sometimes its hard to distinguish youth culture from American culture, mainly due to the power of media and marketing. There is a huge difference though.” We see the same ploy being used in the UK where product advertisements for breathless youth always seem to have a voiceover with an American accent. If marketers wished to associate real - as opposed to perceived - youth with a nation then Iran is the choice. It is the perception, however false, that remains.

I’am kind of sick of the worship of youth culture. It’s supposedly fresh and full of excitment. I tend to find it shallow predicatable, good awefully boring, idiotic and in just poor taste. Well when compared to more middle aged shit. Seriously if I want to find great music I don’t ask some youngster. Fuck youth it’s for idiots. Just hijacking the thread. Oh to any young person that takes this seriously don’t worry you’ll grow out of it (the youth that is).

“murder thats the nice way to put it” Couldn’t think of a better description. But even in historical fantasy (where everyone is supposed to be English/British) the heroes are American actors. The Black Shield of Falworth is good example. Here Tony Curtis utters (in heavily accented Brooklyn) the famous line - Yonda lies da cassle od my fader. Curtis beats the dastardly Brits in the end though.

@ Micheltn - I think you misunderstood the intent of the post, which was being critical of the marketing approach, not critical of Americans.

so…this thread ISN’T about umm…fishing? got all excited when I saw the title of the thread

@Premium Parrots That would be angling, then. But seriously, I’ve stopped getting overly offended by marketing practices. In general, the advertising industry tends to rely on strong images. Some of it is due to the “big idea” approach. “Think Mink” was a classic example. I think Fubar, or Wow! are aiming for that, name wise. Something that sticks in the brain. In the UK and the US, transposing accents in advertising is a subtle way to get listeners/viewers to shift their attention and listen to what’s being said. If everyone was speaking classic BBC English from the '40’s or slick American announcer speak in adverts, people would start ignoring them after awhile. Just my 2 cents, or disused Ha’Penny.

As in mudering rapeing and defilment of the corpse. That’s how I’d put it.

"@ Micheltn - I think you misunderstood the intent of the post, which was being critical of the marketing approach, not critical of Americans. " Thank you, Tony, it is indeed the marketing approach that I was questioning and in particular what I perceived to be unfair stereotyping of Americans by a foreign company. The issue as to whether this approach is shamefully shallow or not is probably determined by age with older people more likely to agree with me that these garish names are juvenile and bolster an unfair impression. That’s all.

My pleasure Philip. And I do agree, so I am happy to be confirmed as one of the older people

According to Walrus, I’m old too. And yes, I agree with Philip on the branding.

The worst marketing ploy I have seen is for Fubar Grunt, camo label, military slang, hokey “Blow your head off” warning. One of my top 2 snuffs though, and some of the British snuffs are rather colorfully named.

They can call it what ever they like. How does it snuff is the question.

The blow your head off thing is goofy… Funny thing is the nic doesn’t even seem that high to me. It has a good hit but not as much as Garrett to me

Slighty OT, yes I know, but I must say as an American who appreciates a good chuckle, I love it when the Brits parody us; one of my favorite examples is that episode of The Young Ones when they spoof an episode of Dallas and Neal (Nigel Planer) is behind that desk speaking in the most horribly affected Texan accent…hehehe…

E.T.

Some more parody: Americans in London

Canadian here so I’m neutral with the whole UK-US stereotype thing. Being in a country with no real culture of its own we are heavily influenced by British and American values (although American ones dominate in my experience). From what i’ve seen on American TV the British are constantly portrayed as rich snobs who have god awful teeth and whose lives revolve around the local pub. From British TV (accessible via our CBC which is a blatant copy of the BBC) I see Americans being portrayed either as fat, stupid rednecks or hyper-capitalist businessmen who are obsessed with profits profits profits. Obviously that being said neither of these stereotypes reflect the true nature of the citizens, its just what ive witnessed.

In American culture Brits are generally divided into two groups, posh aristocrats and Cockney street urchins. In British culture Americans are usually either rednecks, capitalistic planet destroyers or superheroes. I notice the young men of both cultures see the young ladies of the opposite culture as being faster and looser. Must be a case of the grass is greener.EDIT: American women love a man with a British accent. Don’t know why.

Canada has a culture of its own, and its gotten its share of paraody. We were just talking about Strange Brew and the Mackenzie brothers a few days ago. Thats some fantastic parody there. South Park loves to rip on Canada too. One Christmas special a few years ago they did an odd Wizard of Oz/adventure in Canada parody…hilarious! Also the movie Canadian Bacon has some great moments.

Woman and men love accents. It has to do with how the brain is wired. Novelity increases dopamine production so anything that you aren’t used to will create an increase in turn on. Seriously if you want a woman or mans attention do something they aren’t used to, you still have to work it but it will definatly help.

I haven’t been to Canada but I formed my opinion about her people by watching all the episodes of _The Trailer Park Boys._And yes, I keeed.

Advertising copy is not exactly highbrow culture, to put it mildly. It caters to the lower common denominator, and stereotypes are definitely a part of that mindset. That’s not a defense, just an observation.

quote bob; “Novelity increases dopamine production so anything that you aren’t used to will create an increase in turn on”. unquote funny you should mention that. Several years ago a friend and myself were cruising around a small town near Havana. We were chatting about the type of gals we wanted to screw and not yet had the chance to. He mentions that he always wanted to make it with a dwarf nun. I said yea right where you gona find that. We turn the corner and low and behold there she is. Walkin down the sidewalk with several other nuns is a freakin dwarf. I told him to go for it. He turned all red and said something like…nevermind. I LMAO at him. true story. you might have had to been there to appreciate it tho. it that enough off topic for ya’ll?

“Advertising copy is not exactly highbrow culture, to put it mildly. It caters to the lower common denominator, and stereotypes are definitely a part of that mindset. That’s not a defense, just an observation.” My thoughts exactly. Even so, any thinking US citizen should be peeved that a company from a major Asian nation so obviously regards their countrymen as thriving solely on junk culture; that they have dumbed down minds limited to the dubious acronyms of the Game Boy generation and that they can only express delight in food, a gun or a breathless Wow! One can almost hear the mirthful scorn from the marketing board as they conjured up and chuckled over such appalling names for the honoured American sahib - eg Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition Grunt. (I’ve even chuckled myself). Finally the snuff, judging from reviews, is only mediocre at best. It’s not inconceivable that if a western company marketed products aimed at an Asian or African community which used equally dire stereotypical themes they could be up before a Race Relations board.

Let foreigners make fun of us, who cares. The reason we don’t get upset is because we are far and away better than every other country, in every way. Look at india then look at America, they are kidding themselves if they think they’re smarter or better in any way.

I’m not too sure that Dholakia is to blame for the foux pas. They were the contractor not the contractee.

“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.” – George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

You have to ask yourself who Fubar, Rockit and Wow were aimed at. If not kids then presumably someone not that far off being one and who reacts positively to that kind of packaging. I find the whole concept of contract made snuff a bit weird but I was surprised to find that it has been going on for decades. My brother got something off ebay for me; it was a letter from the 50’s from SG to a tobacconist in my home town talking about a contract deal. Does it actually make more money for someone as opposed to selling the original product? I’ll bet my bottom dollar it doesn’t. For some reason that whole ‘new’ range of snuff thing, like jaxons as well, irritates me. Maybe Im just cranky in old age. The Fubar packaging put me off to begin with but now its a must have brand for me - whatever the concept behind it I do think Dholkakia made something really worthwhile to fill those strange cans.

I’m an American male. I love British accents. It all stems from my first love, who was born in England and moved here with her folks when she was 9 or so, we met when she was 12. I still have a weakness for the accent but at least I know why. I have no issues with the packaging or names of snuff. None that I’ve seen offended me enough to not buy the product if I thought it would be a flavor I liked. The FUBAR line did attract my attention because of the name(s) and design. Grunt is the only one I’ve bought, because the others don’t fit my preferred flavor profile.

Well contract manufacture is probably a very good thing for the industry. It certainly would be slightly more profitable for both the retailer and the manufacturer. Basicly takes out the middle man so the manufacturer gets to charge more then normal and the retailer gets to pay less. To also put something as basic as possible, there are two types of money you make in bussiness profit and maintainess. Often there are things you sell more because you’ll most likely sell a certain amount steadily and that you’ll cover a little more then costs, then the profit is usaly something that you don’t do as often but that rakes in a much larger amount of cash. For instance I worked at a supermarket that made almost no profit on most things they sold but they also sold some insanely expensive goods that they only sell infrequently but that’s really were they make their money. I assume that contract manufactor is probably the money maker and the other snuffs are more maintainence. More coffee for me please.

Jari T. That ain’t even close to what real patriotism is. That is really a dumb qoute. I have heard it before. Im sure ‘intellectuals’ really think it is brilliant. But it is stupid. Patriotism is alot more than that. As a matter of fact I think the lack of patriotism in the US is what causes most of the social problems here. If people truly understood (and if they actually taught it in public schools) the heritage of America, and all the wonderful things about it they would have more pride in it. Nowadays it is ‘tacky’ to be patriotic. Also, to many people are ‘too smart’ for God these days. Another reason we have so many social issues. Because our Constitution and Bible (and every other religion for that matter) are very clear on alot of the issues, that somehow today are not so bad anymore. What is the opposite of patriotism? treachery? Sorry to get off topic.

Knock the politics please, owners rules.

Mark, I looked back and saw what I posted. What a smug thing to do. Dropping a quote like that. Sorry! It’s just that I come from a country where people are more pragmatic or perhaps more serious about throwing words like “freedom” and “patrioism” about. These are not just things you flount and fly your plastic Chinese made flags about. Oh dear, here we go again!.. We don’t rush to say “Thanks for your service!” for any person who has for a reason or another has been employed by the army, navy or the reindeer snipers – oh no, this compliment is reserved for the men and women who have killed four or more Russians served during the winter- or the continuation war. But there you go, cultural differences and shit, still, I honestly think that dropping quotes like I did was a bad shape. Honestly. Edit: Sorry Snuffster, I had to say this. Being from a really small and country and all. Scrub if needed!

"I love British accents. " @Mick Perhaps, but I’ll wager you wouldn’t readily understand many, especially the linguistic varieties of regional dialect. BBC Thames Estuary English or the more melodious RP tones of certain well-known British actors is the speech pattern most foreigners hear and associate with Britain. Go to Wearside Sunderland or Glasgow or much of the rest of the UK and a very different cacophony is heard. These can result in communication impenetrability for English speaking foreigners and occasionally for those native to these isles. Some British films have to be subtitled for the benefit of other English speaking nations.

I’ve heard a fair amount of them. There aren’t too many dialects/accents that I can’t understand at least the gist of a conversation. Hell, I’m starting to understand what Caribbean Islanders are saying to each other, and that’s a pretty difficult one to do. I know people from the Caribbean who can’t understand what people the next island over are saying when they’re speaking the regional dialect or creole.