Ethnographic Heritage as a Branding Strategy: A Case Study of Yogurt in Bulgaria and Japan

This article explores the various ways in which ethnographic images are deployed in branding strategies by Bulgarian and Japanese companies to frame industrial food as cultural heritage. Examining the history and marketing strategies of yogurt in Japan, I demonstrate how international marketing and cooperation has influenced the definitions, meanings and values of yogurt. In Japan, companies turn to ethnographic images of Bulgaria to sell their products, emphasizing visions of rural life over Bulgarian yogurt-making technology. At the same time, the fact that Bulgarian yogurt has turned into a symbol of health and wellbeing in one of the world’s economic powers is a source of national pride for consumers in post-socialist Bulgaria. The branding strategies of yogurt show how companies transform foods into culturally meaningful products, thereby doing much more than making profitable commodities of them. In educating and offering consumers new lifestyles, they change established systems of consumption and influence people’s imaginations.