I was browsing one of my favorite article/blog websites, Cracked.com, when I came across an article that made me realize some of the funnier implications of product globalization. I’ll show you what I mean…

As a college student I drink my fair share of beer. However, there’s times for drinking beer,

and there’s times for drinking beer.

With the latter, taste is not much of a consideration. Hell, waking up indoors is not much of a consideration. In times like these, the beer spends minimal time in proximity to your tongue, therefore taste and quality is a non-issue. Any rational person, then, will buy the cheapest beer they can find.

That same rational person will have no trouble doing so.

The market is flooded with cheap, low quality beer, (accompanied by equally low quality commercials): Kokanee, Budweiser, Lucky, Coors, Molson, etc. These don’t pretend otherwise, either; they know their place in the market.

Then there’s Pabst Blue Ribbon. It fits right in that category.

Looking similarly unremarkable, it’s roughly $.50 a can in the good ‘ol US of A, it’s birthplace.

Now, that we’ve looked at the bottom on the fish tank, I’d like to contrast with one of the finest beers hops can brew.

This beer is renowned for it’s smooth, crisp taste that dances upon your lips. Euphoria awaits those who purchase each $44 dollar bottle.

No. Never mind. It’s just Pabst Blue Ribbon again. Look in the top right corner of the picture. But it’s still the equivalent of  44 USD for one of these bottles. And no it’s not special edition; 1844 was the year the Pabst brewery was founded, it says so on each can as well.

No, this is how Pabst markets it’s product in the newly emerging economic powerhouse that is China. The results? Well I personally find it as ridiculous as it is awe inspiring that they can sell the same beer for 88 times it’s regular price point overseas.

This goes to show the power of a consumer’s perceived value in a product, and how packaging goes a long way. Either that or the many of the buyers are the first generation in their bloodline to experience wealth, and have no clue to spend money properly.