Laima, who lives in Germany, shared with “Kauno diena” photos of Lithuanian products with words that cause confusion. Well-known Lithuanian sweets and kvass can be seen on German store shelves with names in Russian.
“Swallow” is renamed “Lastochka” in Russian, “Red Poppy” – “Krasni Mak”. “Bear in the North” is on the shelves of German stores under the name “Bely Medwed”. These delicacies are produced by the Lithuanian candy factory “Vilniaus Victory”. The woman also discovered kvas produced in Lithuania, which is called “Craft kwas” in Germany. True, who is the manufacturer of this product is not clear, because it is only noted that it is made in Lithuania, but a specific manufacturer is not indicated on the packaging.
“On the packaging of Lithuanian sweets there is a sign “Made in Lithuania” and it is also tri-colored, but there is no Lithuanian name, all Russian. I noticed these sweets and kvass in the supermarket “Kaufland”. All these products are supplied by the only supplier – “Dovgan”. When I saw the Russian words in our performance of “Vilniaus Victory”, I was shocked. Lithuania is a free country, not a part of Russia. Such names certainly do not honor Lithuania,” Laima did not hide her indignation. “Kaufland” used to have a separate shelf for Russian goods, now the inscription on the shelf is no longer there, but Lithuanian sweets are still placed there.
“It’s good that the suppliers themselves didn’t rename “victory” to “pobeda”, then there would definitely be something to “be proud of”, said the Lithuanian woman living in Germany ironically. The woman said that the names of the sweets, although renamed in Russian, are written in Latin letters.
Another “gem” of the food supplier “Dovgan” in Germany, noticed by Laima, is the “Pioneris” waffles with Soviet symbols. About cocoa waffles, both in Russian and German, it is written that they are pioneer waffles. The breath of the Soviet era is reinforced by a young man on the label, which resembles a sailor blowing a trumpet, on which hangs a red flag. This kind of symbolism was particularly common in the Soviet Union. “In today’s context, such goods are intolerable and appalling,” Lyma said.
Buy what you are used to
A supplier of goods from Eastern Europe, the company “Dovgan” presents itself on its website as an authentic supplier of products from Eastern Europe, Poland, Romania, the Adriatic Sea region and Turkey. The company allegedly supplied its products to German retail supermarkets. This is a company registered in Germany, but you can find links to Russia on the Internet.
“Dovgan” CEO Andrejs Kovalyov explained in the news portal belonging to the German media group “Deutsche Welle” last spring that most of the brand’s products are produced in Europe and only less than 10% of the assortment was delivered from Russia, but when the war started, Russian goods have been abandoned altogether. He explained to the news portal that Germany has many residents who came from former Soviet countries, most of them speak Russian and prefer the kind of goods they were used to.
“The food culture of many Slavic countries is closely related. Borscht, condensed milk or cottage cheese is known to both Russians and Ukrainians since childhood, so they also buy it in Germany. It’s our food culture, you won’t change it, because we won’t eat lentil soup often or tortillas,” A. Kovalyov told “Deutsche Welle”.
Knocks on the conscience
The Lithuanian woman living in Lithuania also appealed to the conscience of the producers, why they allow the products of a well-known brand in Lithuania to be treated in this way and cooperate with Russian companies. She pointed out that nowhere on the package is it written that the sweets are produced in “Vilniaus Victory”, there is only an inscription that the goods are produced in Lithuania.
“What difference does it make where the company “Dovgan” is registered, it is important what it really is. Is it normal to cooperate with such companies when there is a war? Maybe they hoped that no one would see, would not know? We saw it, we knew. ..” Laima expressed her opinion.
“I would be ashamed if the candies I made would lie on the same shelf with pioneer waffles or with other Russian goods. In any case, Kaufland is a large shopping center, it is not just a Russian ethnic store. They have goods from different countries, for example, Turkey, on their shelves. Such shelves are specially distinguished, it is noted from which country the goods are from. There was also a shelf of Russian goods, now the name is removed, but all the sweets of the Lithuanian manufacturer are placed next to the same pioneer waffles. Nowhere is it indicated that the manufacturer is “Vilniaus Victory”, therefore, it is really easy to simply attribute these goods to Russian goods. It is interesting that “Dovgan” supplies only “Vilniaus Victory” products with Russian names, I have not noticed the goods of other Lithuanian manufacturers with such names,” the Lithuanian woman tried to knock on the conscience of the manufacturers.
Common practice
“Kauno Diena” asked the representatives of “Vilniaus Victory” to comment on why their sweets are sold in Germany under Russian names. According to them, this is a common practice that can potentially reach different audiences.
“The products shown in the photos are intended for those supermarket chains in Germany that sell goods to Russian-speaking or emigrant buyers from the countries of the former Soviet Union. Russian-speaking Germans, emigrants of various nationalities (Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, etc.) – there are more such people in this country than in the whole of Lithuania, so here we see sales potential.
I would liken this situation to transporting goods to Great Britain, to Lithuanian ethnic stores, where we sell goods with Lithuanian names perfectly, because they are mainly bought by Lithuanians living there,” commented Justs Razmuss, marketing manager of “Vilniaus Victory”.
“Swallow” is renamed “Lastochka” in Russian, “Red Poppy” – “Krasni Mak”. According to him, packaging design using language that is most relevant to the target buyer is nothing new.
“Depending on the situation, we also successfully use Polish texts on the packaging, for example, when transporting goods to Poland. We have produced products packaged in Mongolian language for the Mongolian market. In other words, as far as possible, we adapt the packaging design to the needs of a specific buyer,” continued the confectioner. factory representative.
J. Razmus expressed the position that the manufacturer of sweets does not change depending on the chosen language on the packaging – it remains “Vilniaus Victory” from Lithuania. “We are proud that our products are known, bought and loved in 39 countries around the world,” added the marketing manager.
Ministries are not interested in this
Although representatives of the authorities constantly talk about the image of Lithuania in foreign markets and urge to avoid cooperation with Russian companies, the case of “Vilniaus Victory” sweets is not of interest to the ministries. “Lithuanian companies operate in the EU internal market, which ensures the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. We do not have enough information, and we cannot assess on what basis and under what conditions a German company, whose brand is visible on the outer packaging, develops and sells Lithuanian products.
The photos show sweets with Lithuanian names similar to those produced by a Lithuanian company, so for a more detailed comment, we recommend contacting the company whose products may be bagged. We would recommend contacting the Ministry of Economy and Innovation regarding the Lithuanian business guidelines,” the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
Please do not dramatize the situation
The president of the Latvian Traders’ Association (LTA), Henriks Danusēvičs, called on the “Independent” not to dramatize the situation and not highlight such individual cases, because there are several reasons for them and it is a common practice in trade.
He pointed out that the manufactured products may be labeled depending on the market, and reminded that Russian is spoken not only in Russia, but also in Belarus and other countries, it is one of the international languages. Similarly, the manufacturer cannot always track the movement of the goods from the manufacturer to the buyer, because the goods go to the wholesaler, resellers, the goods can change their location in documents, but in reality they cannot move anywhere. And that will be the case as long as business is unregulated.
Manufacturers also tend to order very large quantities of packaging and, due to both economy and disposal problems, they will use up their old stock first, and although something has changed, they will buy new packaging only when the old one is used up, explained H. Danusevičs.
He also mentioned the case when Latvian buyers in Sweden noticed our goods with labels in Russian. “There are a number of buyers in the EU who work in Russian with Russian-speaking businessmen from EU countries, that’s why there is a label in Russian,” explained the president of LTA.
H. Danusevičs also pointed out that businessmen should check whether their business partners are not included in the sanctions lists of the EU, Great Britain or the USA, they should look at who they buy from, and the relevant state authorities also monitor it. Sweets are not on the list of goods subject to sanctions, and buyers in Latvia should not be alarmed if they see a chocolate in a store with an inscription in Russian.
2023-08-27 02:15:10
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