It’s great if you’re able to buy products that support local industry, right? I mean, what’s not to like about that? If you have an option to buy something made, often with pride, in your own country, why not do it? Here in America, stuff made here often is marked with some kind of sticker with a flag and a reminder that it’s Made in USA. A sticker much like the one on these Federal-brand tires! Well, sorta.
Jalopnik-pal Paulo noticed these tires and their sticker on a post in the MX-5 Miata.net forums. Here, look for yourself:
Here’s a closer shot of that sticker, and the tire itself:
Hey... wait a minute.
Yes, that big star-spangled, red-white-and-beautiful sticker, talking about all that “Patriot Pride” baked into those Federal SS595 tires might not be referring to American patriot pride, because, if you look carefully, that sticker says “Made for America,” not “Made in America,” and if it was, in fact, made with “Patriot Pride,” those patriots were from Taiwan, as it says on the tire itself, and if you cut them, while they still bleed red, white, and blue, those colors are arranged in a flag that looks like this:
Because they’re Taiwanese. Which, is, of course, just fine, but that sticker sure seems like it’s trying to suggest something else.
This is a cheap move, designed to disingenuously prey on Americans’ desire to buy American. Even that name, Federal, sure sounds American, right? We use that word in all kinds of things here, from our investigation bureaus to our offenses.
Made for America. What a load of crap. What I’m really wondering now is if Federal does this for other global markets? Are there any Made for Britain or France or Micronesia or Andorra stickers out there? Or are we just the biggest suckers for this kind of thing?