History MadeInCountryX / RealLife

* Each Apple {{iProduct}} is marked on the back as "Designed by Apple in UsefulNotes/{{California}}" right above the legally mandated "Made in China" disclosure, what with California (Silicon Valley specifically) being associated with modernism and high technology. Old-school computer nerds will tell you, though, that it is all at the expense of the true core of the computer innovation -- that is, [[HollywoodNewEngland New England]], which, with its MIT-centered computer industry, was a forefront of innovation in the UsefulNotes/MainframesAndMinicomputers era until overshadowed by those Californian upstarts because of the microprocessor boom, a series of [[ExecutiveMeddling dumb corporate blunders]], and (according to recent legal/economic analysis) the different approaches Massachusetts and California take on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause covenants not to compete]] (Massachusetts enforces them strictly, California refuses to enforce them at all), which affects the ability of talent to start new companies.

** Of course, these people are forgetting the [[NighInvulnerable Toyota Hilux]], the only vehicle that has ever been driven ''to the North Pole''. Granted, the American version (the Invincible) is [[BadExportForYou much less impressive]].

* American UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} is easily the most competitive in the world, with the best players of the game being Americans themselves.

** Within America (sort of), American Samoa has produced far more NFL players than one would expect given their small population and remote location (the nearest NFL stadium is nearly 5,000 miles away), a boy born in American Samoa is 50 times more likely to make the NFL than a boy born on the U.S. mainland. Though Samoa (both the American part and the independent country just called Samoa) is probably best known for their [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty professional wrestlers]].

* In practically all women's sports, the Americans are top dogs by a wide margin, even sports that Americans aren't known for such as Euro Footy. Softball was once an Olympic event until the American team played a perfect Olympics -- not giving up a single run in the entirety of an Olympic Games. Such was the dominance of the Americans that the game was removed from the Olympics (only returning in Tokyo 2020, as the Japanese love baseball).

** Zigzagged with German tanks. On one hand, the Wehrmacht were the first to appreciate armour as a mobile, versatile weapon of war in its own right, when most other militaries saw them as either support weapons for the infantry or substitutes for traditional cavalry. They pioneered many features that have since become standard, namely the three-man turret and radio communication, which made their tanks far more responsive in combat. All of these factors offset some glaring qualitative and quantitative disparities and allowed the German military to achieve its stunning successes in the first three years of the war. However, their later (and rather more famous) designs like the Tiger I and II or the Panther tended to be over-engineered, difficult and costly to manufacture, and often unreliable, despite the superlative quality of their armament and armour. Post-war, the Leopard I and Leopard II have become something of a standard for tank design, being widely adopted by militaries around the world and more often than not setting the benchmark for firepower and mobility, if not always survivability.

* [[ItsCuban Cuban cigars]], though other nations are starting to catch up. They held a ForbiddenFruit status for ''decades'' in the US as a result of the Cuban Revolution and the ensuing embargo.

* Tanks have been long associated with the Soviet Union, which has not only often led the field in their design, pioneering or popularizing innovations such as high-powered diesel powerplants, autoloaders, smoothbore guns, and explosive-reactive armour tiles, [[WeHaveReserves but also in sheer numbers produced]]. Upon its introduction, the T-34 effectively rewrote the book by combining mobility, survivability, and firepower to a degree unmatched any other tank design at the time of its introduction, and continued to remain highly competitive until the end of the war. At the end of the war, the T-54 did the same by rendering existing heavy and medium tanks obsolete, becoming almost indisputably the first main battle tank, capable of fulfilling almost all functions expected of either type. Both of these are among the most produced armoured fighting vehicles in history, with respective total production figures of 84,000 and 100,000 (estimated).

* Something that is almost universally true: any product, made in any country, no matter the quality, will have at least a few defenders in that country purely on the basis of [[PatrioticFervor national pride]].

** Of course, these people are forgetting the [[NighInvulnerable Toyota Hilux]], the only vehicle that has ever been driven ''to the North Pole''. Granted, the American version (the Invincible) is [[BadExportForYou much less impressive]].

* American UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} is easily the most competitive in the world, with the best players of the game being Americans themselves.

** Within America (sort of), American Samoa has produced far more NFL players than one would expect given their small population and remote location (the nearest NFL stadium is nearly 5,000 miles away), a boy born in American Samoa is 50 times more likely to make the NFL than a boy born on the U.S. mainland. Though Samoa (both the American part and the independent country just called Samoa) is probably best known for their [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty professional wrestlers]].

* In practically all women's sports, the Americans are top dogs by a wide margin, even sports that Americans aren't known for such as Euro Footy. Softball was once an Olympic event until the American team played a perfect Olympics -- not giving up a single run in the entirety of an Olympic Games. Such was the dominance of the Americans that the game was removed from the Olympics (only returning in Tokyo 2020, as the Japanese love baseball).

** Zigzagged with German tanks. On one hand, the Wehrmacht were the first to appreciate armour as a mobile, versatile weapon of war in its own right, when most other militaries saw them as either support weapons for the infantry or substitutes for traditional cavalry. They pioneered many features that have since become standard, namely the three-man turret and radio communication, which made their tanks far more responsive in combat. All of these factors offset some glaring qualitative and quantitative disparities and allowed the German military to achieve its stunning successes in the first three years of the war. However, their later (and rather more famous) designs like the Tiger I and II or the Panther tended to be over-engineered, difficult and costly to manufacture, and often unreliable, despite the superlative quality of their armament and armour. Post-war, the Leopard I and Leopard II have become something of a standard for tank design, being widely adopted by militaries around the world and more often than not setting the benchmark for firepower and mobility, if not always survivability.

* [[ItsCuban Cuban cigars]], though other nations are starting to catch up. They held a ForbiddenFruit status for ''decades'' in the US as a result of the Cuban Revolution and the ensuing embargo.

* Tanks have been long associated with the Soviet Union, which has not only often led the field in their design, pioneering or popularizing innovations such as high-powered diesel powerplants, autoloaders, smoothbore guns, and explosive-reactive armour tiles, [[WeHaveReserves but also in sheer numbers produced]]. Upon its introduction, the T-34 effectively rewrote the book by combining mobility, survivability, and firepower to a degree unmatched any other tank design at the time of its introduction, and continued to remain highly competitive until the end of the war. At the end of the war, the T-54 did the same by rendering existing heavy and medium tanks obsolete, becoming almost indisputably the first main battle tank, capable of fulfilling almost all functions expected of either type. Both of these are among the most produced armoured fighting vehicles in history, with respective total production figures of 84,000 and 100,000 (estimated).

* Something that is almost universally true: any product, made in any country, no matter the quality, will have at least a few defenders in that country purely on the basis of [[PatrioticFervor national pride]].

** There was an UrbanLegend about a town in China (or elsewhere) allegedly changing its name to "Usa" in order to label products as "[[ExactWords MADE IN USA]]".

** The lone exception is the French, who usually prefer either Japanese films or their own films over Hollywood. Hollywood-bashing is common there. (American cartoons still have the same reputation there, though.) The lone period of time when this viewpoint wasn't in effect was, ironically enough, TheFifties, which were seen by American film buffs as an AudienceAlienatingEra, seeing as how that decade marked the height of the MediaNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff French critics, however]], saw the works of filmmakers like Creator/AlfredHitchcock, Creator/JohnFord, Creator/NicholasRay, Creator/HowardHawks, and Creator/OrsonWelles as quietly revolutionary, especially in comparison to the output of the French film industry at the time. Their love of Hollywood cinema led to the emergence of the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave, whose innovations eventually came back across UsefulNotes/ThePond in the form of the MediaNotes/NewHollywood movement of the late '60s and '70s.
* [[{{Britcom}} British comedies]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion music]].

** Before Apple, it was Japanese {{cell phone}}s that held this reputation during the TurnOfTheMillennium, equipped with audio/video playback (including broadcast TV and radio), video cameras, 3G mobile broadband, instant messaging, email, UsefulNotes/{{MP3}} players, GPS navigation, and e-money services at a time when most Western cell phones (save for a few niche devices like the business-oriented [=BlackBerry=] and the youth-focused Danger Hiptop/T-Mobile Sidekick) stopped at text messaging and still cameras. Needless to say, Japanese ''keitai'' were a ForbiddenFruit for many Western cell phone users. Unfortunately, they wound up being ''too'' advanced to run on the primitive cellular networks outside Japan, and so Japanese cell phone makers turned inward and focused on the domestic market almost entirely, allowing them to get caught completely off-guard by the smartphone revolution. The unique qualities of Japanese cell phones, and how they failed to catch on outside Japan, led to the term [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_syndrome "Galápagos syndrome"]] to describe it. On the other hand, the overreliance on mobile phones has led to the Japanese almost missing out the Internet boom on the Oughts, as few Japanese owned a computer at home, due to the expense and cramped living spaces, only saved by the eleventh hour by the Internet-capable smartphones (including iPhone, of course) and cheap and plentiful laptops arriving mid-decade.
** Among UsefulNotes/CompactDisc collectors, discs made in West Germany or Japan tend to be much more coveted than discs made in any other country, even if the mastering is identical. Part of this is due to the historical value of the [=CDs=], since the two countries were the first to establish pressing plants for the format and remained dominant in the market until domestic plants became widespread in 1987. Part of it is for the sake of novelty, as many early discs from these countries featured unique label designs that were discarded by plants in other parts of the world; this is especially true with discs by the West German [=PolyGram=] plant, which featured colorful, full-face designs that were supplanted by cheaper ones consisting of black text on clear backgrounds. Finally, part of it is due to more reliable build quality, as several plants in the US and UK became notorious for systematic manufacturing defects.

*** That's because the authentic Parmesan is called Parmigiano-Reggiano. Knock off brands will still use "Parmesan."
*** By the same token, the US signed an agreement with France and the EU in 2006 to enforce French/EU law concerning champagne, with a GrandfatherClause allowing brands of sparkling wine which had established use of "champagne" in 2006 to continue to do so as long as they very clearly labeled their bottles as [PLACE OF ORIGIN] champagne with the [PLACE OF ORIGIN] in very large letters.

* Italian and English suits & other menswear. French clothing for the ladies. This has as much to do with those nations' stereotypes as "refined" and "luxurious", as with the actual quality of the clothes. The English have less such a reputation these days in some parts, but their famous Savile Row tailors gained high prestige during the British Empire (in which any goods from the metropole were a status symbol) and have retained it ever since.

** A certain region within a country can rally around a food product, even when those outside the country tend not to care. In America, the Californians take great pride in their wine, Wisconsinites do the same with their cheese, Floridians with oranges, Georgians with peaches, Idahoans with potatoes, New York with pizza, and others. In Canada, it's Prince Edward Island that boasts of good potatoes, even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqoiRgMpeM in song]]. Quebec, meanwhile, holds its maple syrup as the best (though you'd struggle to find a Canadian who prefers foreign syrup; most view it as cheap over-processed dreck.)

* Chinese products often carry a negative reputation, attributed to the country's vast labor force and limited governmental supervision. This has led to China becoming a hub for low-cost production, resulting in a widespread prevalence of inexpensive yet low-quality manufacturing. Issues such as inadequate oversight and intricate supply chains have given rise to problems ranging from contaminated food and beverages to the circulation of counterfeit parts.\\\
In an attempt to alter this image, there has been a significant initiative to shift towards becoming a center for high-tech production, similar to the transformations witnessed in Japan and Taiwan during the 1960s. Whether this effort will succeed remains uncertain, though.
** There was an UrbanLegend about a town in China (or elsewhere) allegedly changing its name to "Usa" to label products as "[[ExactWords MADE IN USA]]".
** Contrary to the current situation, it's worth noting that in the mid-20th century, Japan faced a similar stereotype of producing cheap and inferior products. The running joke at the time was that poorly made items carried a "MADE IN JAPAN" label. However, this perception shifted in the 1980s, as Japan earned recognition for manufacturing high-quality cars and electronics.[[note]]''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' provides an example of this, with 1955 Doc Brown expressing shock when 1985 Marty says "What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan."[[/note]] Today, China finds itself in a similar position, inheriting the stereotype once associated with Japan. The urban legend about the town named Usa was originally attributed to Japan in the past[[note]]this was due to the fact that [[https://t.ly/DmRFD Usa is a real town in Japan]][[/note]].

* Bad customer/tech support is often portrayed as [[OperatorFromIndia coming from India]] if you're from the Anglosphere or from Eastern Europe or North Africa if you're from Continental Europe (although Europeans also get a lot of awful calls from India too).

* Cuban cigars, though other nations are starting to catch up. They held a ForbiddenFruit status for ''decades'' in the US as a result of the Cuban Revolution and the ensuing embargo.
* Italian suits and other menswear. French clothing for the ladies. This has as much to do with those nations' stereotypes as "refined" and "luxurious", as with the actual quality of the clothes. The English also built a reputation for good suits (helped along by their colonial empire), but not to the same extent in recent decades.

** Although this assumption is mostly based on the fact that if you buy it in New Mexico, the clerk you bought it from was almost certainly a Native American (and likely a woman), specifically to cause this assumption.

* Something that is almost universally true: any product, made in any country, no matter the quality, will have at least a few defenders in that country on the basis of pure [[PatrioticFervor national pride]].

** A certain region within a country can rally around a food product, even when those outside the country tend not to care. In America, the Californians take great pride in their wine, Wisconsinites do the same with their cheese, Floridians with oranges, Georgians with peaches, and Idahoans with potatoes. In Canada, it's Prince Edward Island that boasts of good potatoes, even commemorated in the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqoiRgMpeM Bud the Spud]]" by PEI native Music/StompinTomConnors. Quebec, meanwhile, holds its maple syrup as the best (though you'd struggle to find a Canadian who prefers foreign syrup; most view it as cheap over-processed dreck.)

* However questionable the quality of Chinese products may be, it is an undisputed fact that China has been extraordinarily productive when it comes down to laying down infrastructure. As of 2019, China has the second-largest road and rail network in the world; in terms of expressway length and electrification, it is second to none. This is all the more impressive when considering that it did not have any expressways until 1988, and that it was operating steam locomotives for regular passenger service as late as 2005.[[note]]A few steam locomotives continue to be in operation as freight trains[[/note]] Their ability to rapidly put down asphalt and rails is such that it has become an important component of its foreign development efforts -- which many would consider as an attempt to project Chinese power and influence abroad, if not a form of outright debt trapping.

** The lone exception is the French, who usually prefer either Japanese films or their own films over Hollywood. Hollywood-bashing is common there. (American cartoons still have the same reputation there, though.) The lone period of time when this viewpoint wasn't in effect was, ironically enough, TheFifties, which were seen by American film buffs as an AudienceAlienatingEra, seeing as how that decade marked the height of the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff French critics, however]], saw the works of filmmakers like Creator/AlfredHitchcock, Creator/JohnFord, Creator/NicholasRay, Creator/HowardHawks, and Creator/OrsonWelles as quietly revolutionary, especially in comparison to the output of the French film industry at the time. Their love of Hollywood cinema led to the emergence of the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave, whose innovations eventually came back across UsefulNotes/ThePond in the form of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood movement of the late '60s and '70s.

* For a long time, Japanese video games were considered the best in the world, from MediaNotes/The8BitEraOfConsoleVideoGames (coming right off UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 all but wiping out American home console development) up through UsefulNotes/{{the Sixth Generation|OfConsoleVideoGames}} in the early '00s. While successful Western developers did exist, they existed almost entirely in the PC sphere, a niche market compared to the Japanese home consoles that dominated the industry. Since then, Western developers have caught up, though whether Japanese or Western games are better can depend on the game genre (for instance, BulletHell games are considered better if they're from Japan) and sometimes personal opinion. {{Eastern|RPG}} and {{Western|RPG}} {{Role Playing Game}}s are basically separate genres now.

* For a long time, Japanese video games were considered the best in the world, from UsefulNotes/The8BitEraOfConsoleVideoGames (coming right off UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 all but wiping out American home console development) up through UsefulNotes/{{the Sixth Generation|OfConsoleVideoGames}} in the early '00s. While successful Western developers did exist, they existed almost entirely in the PC sphere, a niche market compared to the Japanese home consoles that dominated the industry. Since then, Western developers have caught up, though whether Japanese or Western games are better can depend on the game genre (for instance, BulletHell games are considered better if they're from Japan) and sometimes personal opinion. {{Eastern|RPG}} and {{Western|RPG}} {{Role Playing Game}}s are basically separate genres now.

** Contrary to the current situation, it's worth noting that in the mid-20th century, Japan faced a similar stereotype of producing cheap and inferior products. The running joke at the time was that poorly made items carried a "MADE IN JAPAN" label. However, this perception shifted in the 1980s, as Japan earned recognition for manufacturing high-quality cars and electronics.[[note]]''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' provides an example of this, with 1955 Doc Brown expressing shock when 1985 Marty says "What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan."[[/note]] Today, China finds itself in a similar position, inheriting the stereotype once associated with Japan. The urban legend about the town named Usa was originally attributed to Japan in the past[[note]]this was due to the fact that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa,_%C5%8Cita Usa is a real town in Japan]][[/note]].

* Chinese products tend to have this reputation. Due to their massive labor pool and limited government oversight, China became a powerhouse of low-cost production, resulting in a massive proliferation of low-cost, low-quality manufacturing. Poor oversight and complex supply chains has resulted in everything from tainted food and drink to counterfeit parts. There's been a substantial effort to change this reputation, and transition to a center of high technology production (much like what happened in Japan and Taiwan starting in the 1960's). Whether this effort will succeed remains to be seen.
** There was an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] about a town in China (or wherever) that changed its name to "Usa" so they could label their products as [[ExactWords "MADE IN USA"]].
** Back in the mid-20th century, it was Japan that was considered the country of making cheap junk. It was a running joke that a bad product would have a "MADE IN JAPAN" label on it. This changed in the 80s, when Japan became known for high-quality cars and electronics.[[note]]''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' provides an example of this, with 1955 Doc Brown expressing shock when 1985 Marty says "What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan."[[/note]] Now China has taken on this stereotype. The urban legend about the town called Usa used to be told about Japan.