I bought some cheap Chinese 2-way radios. The packaging has a big American flag and a “Designed in U.S.A.” claim, which I suspect is bullshit given the company involved. Also, there are two Bible verses referenced. This smacks of pandering to a particular slice of conservative Americans. All I want is cheap radios for skiing with my kids next winter, not a reminder of my country’s socio-political bullshit.

  • 60d@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    123
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    16 days ago

    We’re seeing this in Canada now too. Murcan products with a big maple leaf on them. Some stores are also slapping maple leafs on obviously Murcan products. We’re calling it Maple-washing.

    I wonder what Murcans should call this OP example. Star-washing?

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    15 days ago

    Christianity loves to pretend it’s still a downtrodden little secret society, with their sneaky Bible verses in tiny print and their fish symbols and such. It’s hilarious fantasy play, because they are a global hegemony and spend a lot of time persecuting others.

  • snooggums@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    16 days ago

    Pretty sure coating the whole thing with black ink to make it look ‘manly’ makes recycling more difficult to.

  • Arthur Besse@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    28
    ·
    15 days ago

    I bought some cheap Chinese 2-way radios. The packaging has a big American flag and a “Designed in U.S.A.” claim, which I suspect is bullshit given the company involved. Also, there are two Bible verses referenced. This smacks of pandering to a particular slice of conservative Americans. All I want is cheap radios for skiing with my kids next winter, not a reminder of my country’s socio-political bullshit.

    This bullshit is not from the well-known Chinese radio maker Baofeng (baofengradio.com) but rather from a US company called “BTech” which has the deceptive URL BaoFengTech.com.

  • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.cafe
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    15 days ago

    This has been going on basically forever. It’s false pandering. It’s technically true, a bunch of weak-wristed men sat in an office in Portland, Oregon and they “designed” this product. Then once they were done “designing” it, they sent the schematics off to China for production & ripping off of IP.

    That’s the best case scenario. If it’s as Chinese-y as you say, maybe they modified one feature of a Chinese radio, slapped a couple Bible verses on the box…voilà, it was “designed in USA”. 😆

    • kersploosh@sh.itjust.worksOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      16 days ago

      Another commented mentioned this is from a US distributor that repackages Baofeng products.

      But to be honest, there are so many Baofeng/BTech radios for sale on the internet I was never confident about which were legit and which were knock-offs. I just went for it and hoped for the best. They seem to work fine, at least so far.

  • whaleross@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    16 days ago

    Chinese OEM resellers will print anything on the product and the packaging. It’s just another sale for them. Same guy probably sells it with ten different brandings and flags and quotes and slogans for different markets.

  • radix@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    16 days ago

    As if conservative Americans have read the bible. They’d be the ones crucifying Jesus for being too “woke” if they knew what it was all about.

  • Mwa@thelemmy.club
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    15 days ago

    why bible verse on a box, its very out of place why not somewhere else.

    • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.cafe
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      15 days ago

      It is out of place, but it’s designed to pique human curiosity & get people to unwittingly Google Bible verses. Effortlessly spreading the gospel as they’re told to, fulfilling the Great Commission.

      • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        15 days ago

        You’re right, but I googled the wrong thing and googled John 4:16, which is “Jesus said ‘Go call your husband […]’” (It says more, but search cut it off there.)

        I had a solid guffaw because these boxes are for 2-way radios. Then I realized that I googled the wrong thing and lost interest in continued research.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 days ago

      Nah its that foreign country Puerto Rico that we keep getting immigrants from. Almost as bad as the guamanians stealing jobs from our hardworking soldiers /s

    • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.cafe
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 days ago

      I was caught off guard when I initially saw it, but a Google search showed it for what it was.

      If you feel compelled to hide the fact that you made something because you feel other people will look on in judgment, not buy your product…would this not compel the normal person to look inward & ask, “Are we the baddies?” 🤔

  • Eiri@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    16 days ago

    You could also see it as a form of greenwashing, making you think you’re buying local, and thus greener, if you don’t look closely.

  • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    15 days ago

    Bao Feng has been cashing in on the prepper/meal team 6 crowd for years now. Their packaging just caught up.

  • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    16 days ago

    Weird, because baofeng is such an American name. Definitely designed in USA.

    Ah wait. They mention package designed in USA. Yes that is totally believable. And then a unique color theme for the American version.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      15 days ago

      Ok but we are a nation of immigrants. I could see a company in America having that name. I’d just assume the founder was either a Chinese immigrant or the child of one.

      • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        14 days ago

        For something electronic it’s extremely unlikely. In this case I’d be surprised if they have more than 5 American employees, the support number for the official us branch is a payphone in Houston? (Location makes sense because the box is definitely designed in Texas)