World of Product
In the last article, I wrote that the world of products did not reach Myanmar yet in the context of roadside travel snacks. And while the Thais cover themselves in beauty products from Dove1, Nivea, Unilever etc. with sunblock and skin whitening, Burmese put self-made thanaka on their faces.
But well, that’s no the whole truth! :-P
To be honest, there is one kind of fast food product that made it to Myanmar and basically took over the whole softdrink market: Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co.
In 2014, when I first visited Myanmar in the Mandalay area, I wrote about local brands of softdrinks, like “Lemon Sparkling” and “Star Cola”. Now, three years later, there is no trace of them now, at least in the Yangon area.
Star Cola has been bought by Pepsi Co. and apparently discontinued. No idea what happened to the other brands. There is still “Blue Mountain Cola”, though.
Now, a characteristic sight in Myanmar, especially on those roadside houses and stalls, are these advertisements, mostly for softdrinks or mobile phone tariffs, hanging just about everywhere – but often not how they are supposed to be used but as some kind of decoration or construction material.
I guess they are so popular because they are colorful, relatively durable (don’t rot), water resistant, easy to clean and most of all, probably very cheap (or even free, given that they are advertisements).
1 Written โดฟ in Thai, which means that “Dove” is pronounced like the German word “doof”, in case you ever wondered as a German how to pronounce that brand :-P
