r/ExpectationVsReality • • 16h ago

Exceeded Expectation Magicarp popsicle

I totally thought the product image was AI and did not expect this to look that well

Edit: I bought this in a Korean convenience store. I just took a screenshot from a Japanese website because it was the first pic I found online.

26k Upvotes

370 comments sorted by

View all comments

47

u/RickSanchez_C137 13h ago

The west has lost it's expertise in manufacturing. We don't do enough of it to be good at it anymore. I don't know anyone currently working on manufacturing design or on assembly lines.

Asian countries now have all the skill and creativity when it comes to product and package design.

Westerners are focused on how to make things cheaper with cheaper ingredients and cut corners. Products in Asian markets actually seem to be getting better. This is an especially obvious example, but it's not an outlier.

10

u/secretsaucyy 9h ago

It's not that asian countries have more skill, they have harsher laws that force them to be more meticulous. There's a law that states that the food product MUST look exactly like the immage on the package. Even the exact same size and texture. They can't cut corners or else they're subject to fines that WILL be collected.

Whereas the US has no such law and they can be as deceptive and predatory as they want with their food. Like Vitamin Water was/still kind of is.

0

u/Euphoric-Sun5317 9h ago

1

u/Faniulh 8h ago

For now. This administrations systematic dismantling of guardrails have led to the "spin the wheel to see what food product will be recalled this week" environment we're currently in - the ability/desire to enforce those laws is in the process of being whittled away, and they'll get around to repealing those labeling laws eventually in order to finish the process.