Global Confusion

Brands and the firms that own them often create different images in our minds.

This is an interesting article from 2003 about French's mustard. The owners of the brand (Reckitt Benckiser from the U.K.) were a bit worried that sales would slow down due to anti-French sentiment in the United States.

Here was the official line:

"The only thing French about French's Mustard is the name," the company announced.

Fair enough. What this spokesman failed to do, though, was mention that French's mustard is the brand of a British company, not an American company.

This is old news for many, but I thought it was interesting.