Some countries have found success by promoting the nationality of their products. An example of such an effort is the promotion of Colombian coffee by Juan Valdez. Ecuador’s government had also engaged in efforts to promote roses as one of the primary products to come out of the country. However, there is very little hope that these promotion efforts would be successful.
Roses and flowers, in general, are different from many other products purchased by customers worldwide. Unlike coffee, clothes, or fruits, flowers do not have any distinguishing features about themselves that state what country they come from. They do not have a “Made in Ecuador” label attached to every rose. Even if they did, the chances are that customers would not care. Coffee consumers look at the country of origin because they cannot taste the coffee until they bought and opened the box. Columbia is associated with good coffee, which is why Juan Valdez’s campaign was successful. Likewise, the brand “Made in Germany” is associated with reliability and high standards, while “Made in China” is associated with cheapness and availability. Most customers do not care where flowers come from. Flowers are judged by appearance, which is something most people can judge by looking at them. The country of origin provides no additional information to the customers. Therefore, I must conclude that trying to promote the nationality of roses in countries like Russia, the USA, or the Middle East would be a wasted effort.