There’s a great coffee-table book to be made in cataloguing the numerous “borrowings” of the Nike logo the world over. Initially I believed this phenomenon was confined to China, but I was mistaken. Just to show you that Myanmar can run with the big-dogs of brand appropriation, here are two examples I found recently: The ziploc baggie contains Nike-brand bleach (with a special guest appearance by everyone’s favorite mouse), while this car opted for the Nike+security package, having both a Nike-brand gas door and Nike-brand locks all around.

What new connotations does the brand take on in its forays into these new roles? Would one attached to Nike’s athletic apparel feel compelled to buy this brand of bleach over others? Of course there is always the question of whether someone in a low brand penetration market (i.e. rural Myanmar) is cognizant of this products lack of authenticity – or, because of the strength of first impressions, whether a loyal consumer of Nike bleach one day calls out his friend for wearing shoes or apparel (moot point whether counterfeit or not) whose brand was appropriated from a bleach company.