Is it time for a Made in (insert your country) campaign

With the world economy slowing down, I think it is time we started to shop at home. In the 1970s, I can remind shops and products being the Made in Britian logo.

Before we can start to buy from abroad, we need to ensure we have an economy at home. If we are serious about wanting to help, we should also adopt a shop at home policy.

When I am shopping, I look at the label and certainly food shopping, I do not buy fresh produce from abroad, but buy seasonal local/British produce.

I try to shop local first and support small independant businesses.

reply to post by Freedom ERP


A Buy New Zealand Made Campaign was started last year or the year before in order to try and get people to support local business and products . I can recall a similar campaign in Australia when I was a kid perhaps an Australian or someone living across the Tasman can shed more light on that matter . So far I can only recall seeing the Made in NZ logo once on the back of a chip packet in a supermarket .

I am interested in reading what other peoples experiences have been concerning this topic .

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
When I am shopping, I look at the label and certainly food shopping, I do not buy fresh produce from abroad, but buy seasonal local/British produce.
I try to shop local first and support small independant businesses.

I do the exact same thing and think others should to!

What scares me is shops like Tesco who dominate the market. They practically have control along with another couple of supermarkets, and what will happen is that when all other competition is wiped out (i.e. the local green grocer) then Tesco can charge whatever they darn want for goods ... as there will be no other company to challenge their prices, and people will be forced to shop there as there are no other shops!

One of the major problems is that the UK no longer has the manufacturing base that it once did.

Nor do we grow the same amount of food that we once did.

It's now cheaper to fly and ship goods and produce halfway around the world than it is to make/grow them ourselves.

Down the road from me is what used to be one of the busiest fishing ports in the UK and the port has its own retail outlet, yet tesco sell fish cheaper that has been flown in from abroad.

There's many reasons for this, but brussels is perhaps the chief culprit, along with our own government.

No, because as stated Britain can't make much these days besides weapons (and even that's a partly state supported industry).
No, because many British people aren’t very patriotic. I am one of them; I tend to buy the cheapest stuff of the best quality. I never think twice about where it comes from, although seeing the words British does make me think twice about NOT buying it because if it’s food it’s probably toxic.
I'm glad because I think we have a terrible country almost right for a revolution; not patriotism (which by the way always strengthens a political system).

And no again because if home manufacturing was the answer we could resort to protectionism, and that by the way, (is for the most part) a failed philosophy.
Getting someone to make something in China for 5p an hour isn’t too dissimilar to getting a machine that can make one man do the work of 2.

Now if we could the Chinese wages to 2.5p an hour, now that would be helping our economy!!! But not very much, so for humanities sake leave it. Besides we can’t have China collapse since they buy our debt.

I buy goods based on competency- though this ties in closely with nationality.

I buy local British, free range meat because it is the best option.
I buy Israeli vegetables, because (to me) they taste the best.
I buy Chilean wine because it is better than French wine (again, in my opinion).

I avoid Chinese goods because they are poorly made, and probably unsafe.
I prefer German cars because they are engineered with incredible quality.

etc etc

My point is that rather than some half-baked jingoistic notion of a free-will created trade barrier that sees us using sub-par products, it's time for the UK to stand proud and create a niche in the market for ourselves. What are we good at? We need to make ______________ our byword. When people think of ____________, they should think of Britain.

Eg If you knew nothing about cigars, would you want American or Cuban cigars? Cuba gained that reputation for the highest quality.

What is that competency? I don't know. I think our farmers are world-class. Its a good starting point as any. Lets promote, support and develop our brand of UK Plc (before carting off subsidies to the French under the CAP).

Actually, buying Made in (insert your country here) isn't such a good idea.

For example I live in Australia, China no longer needs our exports because their economy is crashing due to lack of demand of their products. This has impacted greatly on our economy as it is hurting our export trade. If we buy "Made in China" then they need our export products to cater for import demands. It puts them back in business giving them greater buying power of our products.

It is a global economy crisis, we need to work as a whole world and support eachother...

reply to post by Obliterated


Precisely.

If you are weak, then you consider China and India threats to your job, your economy etc.

If you are strong, then you consider them to be massive new markets of 2.5 billion people.

Getting 56million people to buy British is a waste of time. How about we improve our standards, image and generally up our game in order to tap into that massive new market (hint: every year 60 million new Chinese and Indians join the ranks of the middle class... thats the entire population of the UK in a single year)

reply to post by 44soulslayer


And how do you propose we find the money to strengthen and expand our industrial base?

More new laws?

Government intervention? Which is what lead to the decline in the first place?

And what makes you think that China and India will want our goods because of their supposed excellence?

Do you not think that India and China are already catering for or have plans to cater for their expanding middle class?

Bottom line is that we now have an economic base that is service driven rather than driven by manufacturing, and to turn that around will be next to impossible given the current situation, and the situation that will be prevalent for many years to come.

Also, what makes you so sure that the markets you mention think about "quality" in the same way that you do?

reply to post by budski


I never said anything about forcibly creating an industrial base. Britain is still strong in certain sectors- notably high tech science and defence; lucury goods; food and drinks etc.

The government could do a lot worse than support these industries via tax breaks or incentives. The government could also support these industries by creating an education system that befits a modern world. Instead of training hoardes of media studies, religious studies and other "soft option" graduates, the government should double the tuition fees on soft options and eliminate fees for hard options like engineering, science etc.

China and India follow a unique consumer pattern. They prefer Western goods over their own goods, when given the choice. I know that in India particularly (first hand observation), the "Made in England" tag is still seriously respected. Then take into account the Indian demand for Scotch whisky in preference to local brands, etc. There are many examples of the emerging markets buying high quality, high priced items from the West.

I agree that we have a post-industrial economy. So let's try and create further competency within the sectors which we have a dominant position.

And as for the quality issue, the debate is entirely moot. Either I am correct, or this country is going to die. We cannot compete with India and China on a manufacturing cost basis. Hence quality is the only other resort.

Have you any other solution?