Proudly for dogs!

I felt a certain pride - and, yes, hope - surge within me the first time my eyes came across a local food product labeled “Proudly, Made in the Philippines.” Definitely, the taste was great. It was comparable to a foreign counterpart. I sighed from relief and said to myself, “Now, there’s another thing I can be proud of.”

Today, I see many other local food products bearing the same tatak. And this tatak is yet to fail me. It has become the guarantee of the satisfaction I always want to derive from a product. It is good choice.

I believe that there is something more in these “proudly” products. I cannot escape thinking that they must have passed the careful scrutiny of quality controllers. They are prepared satisfactorily, and packed artfully and skillfully. They are made perfect for consumers - perfect for me! – so that there’s no more entertaining second thoughts. Choose them, and you choose well.

No, I don’t wish to round off those who do not bear this label as defective or of low quality. In fact, there are many of these which are “quality”. But of course, one cannot tell unless he tries it. I did, and my tongue can testify to it. I myself could label them “Proudly, Made in the Philippines.”

But products marked “Export Quality” hardly attract me. I find the premise a bit offensive to me as a Filipino consumer. Come to think of it: The producers seem to reason that by labeling their products this way, the Filipino consumer, realizing that these products were somehow intended for more discreet palates (Pease, excuse me.), would pick them. Oh-huh. The producers would seem to tell local consumers: “Now, these products are made available for you. Buy them. This is your chance to taste what is really proposed for foreign tongues.” By golly! Why, are Filipinos not entitled to use or eat delicious things? Do we only deserve something less? Hey, Filipinos are not dogs waiting for the crumbs to fall from strangers’ table.

I don’t think this is simply a question of tatak. “Export Quality” reflects the kind of mentality certain producers have. They produce this quality because they are meant for local consumption, anyway. But they manufacture that quality because they are intended for “greater” races. Hah! From another angle, such tatak only bespeaks the ordinary or, better, real general quality of Filipino products: they are not export quality. The “Export Quality” items, then, seem to be some desperate move to attract buyers. Probably, their producers would like to bank on the colonial mentality of their target market, which, good for them, appears still as the order of the day.

You may say I am overacting. Maybe, I do. Let me think . . . There! Maybe, this sort of labeling is index to some fact that Filipino products have improved. Considerably, if I may say. Now, that’s really good news. Such tatak may be to shout to Filipino ears that local products are no longer inferior to their foreign counterparts, or at least, they are no longer lagging far behind. The Filipino product is export quality, or superior quality. But wait, what about those I tried which can barely pass the “good quality” mark? Wouldn’t this lend support to my earlier claim? So you see, labels may be used indiscriminately. To mislead or deceive, not excluded.
Ouch! My dear label could be guilty of it! Well, at least, as I said, “Proudly, Made in the Philippines” items have always satisfied me.

To the producers using the “Export Quality” label, can’t you come up with a better strategy? In the very least, don’t use it unless your products really are.

For all this, call me non-sense. Go on, suit yourselves. (I say this deferentially.) But I stick to what I think. Just don’t say that my thinking is just for dogs!