Ethnographic Heritage as a Branding Strategy: A Case Study of Yogurt in Bulgaria and Japan

Maria Yotova

Global Economic Review, 2018, vol. 47, issue 1, 47-62

Abstract: This article explores the various ways in which ethnographic images are deployed in branding strategies by Bulgarian and Japanese companies to frame industrial food as cultural heritage. Examining the history and marketing strategies of yogurt in Japan, I demonstrate how international marketing and cooperation has influenced the definitions, meanings and values of yogurt. In Japan, companies turn to ethnographic images of Bulgaria to sell their products, emphasizing visions of rural life over Bulgarian yogurt-making technology. At the same time, the fact that Bulgarian yogurt has turned into a symbol of health and wellbeing in one of the world’s economic powers is a source of national pride for consumers in post-socialist Bulgaria. The branding strategies of yogurt show how companies transform foods into culturally meaningful products, thereby doing much more than making profitable commodities of them. In educating and offering consumers new lifestyles, they change established systems of consumption and influence people’s imaginations.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/1226508X.2017.1393724 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:glecrv:v:47:y:2018:i:1:p:47-62

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RGER20

DOI: 10.1080/1226508X.2017.1393724

Access Statistics for this article

Global Economic Review is currently edited by Kap-Young Jeong and Taeyoon Sung

More articles in Global Economic Review from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().