East India Company brand returns after 135-year absence

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10971109

by kvs • 16 years ago

44 19 16 years ago

bbc.co.uk

pierre_M• 16 years ago

At its peak, the company employed a third of the British workforce and was responsible for a huge tranche of global trade.

I knew it was big, but a third of the British workforce? That's insane.

Anyway, I welcome the East India Company back. I realise it has almost nothing in common with the original entity, but I personally might buy their tea if it becomes available here, just for the illicit non-PC pro-colonialism thrill.

muhfuhkuh• 16 years ago

"non-PC pro-colonialism thrill"

Heh, that's the secret branch-off of the brand lifecycle I guess. Companies that have, heretofore, fallen by the wayside or were unceremoniously erased from the collective conscience gets resurrected as a new, edgier brand.

It happened with Indian Motorcycles. Now, _that_ brand is known as the "rebel" brand (though it's ironically owned by a stodgy English private equity firm), while Harley-Davidson has slowly become the "fat yuppie or old fart (re)sowing their wild suburban oats" brand.

I bet you certain elements want to keep the embargo of Cuba by Americans going to keep the market for illicit cigars (and the requisite mystique of smoking one) going strong. Like the big to-do about absinthe. Now that it's semi-legal (as long as it doesn't contain x amount of thujone) it's become passe in the "cool" clubs.

groaner• 16 years ago

It's big in the sense that it exercised power in a way that dwarfs what we currently regard as modern corporate kleptocracy. The Company wasn't just a trading company, it was responsible for exercising political power in India on behalf of the British crown, and even operated its own military forces.

It's precisely this excess concentration of monopoly power that Adam Smith described in The Wealth of Nations as a criticism of capitalism gone awry [1].

Probably as close to a real-life manifestation of Shinra as we've ever had in history.

[1] http://www.newstatesman.com/200412130016.htm

w00pla• 16 years ago

> I knew it was big, but a third of the British workforce? That's insane.

The British East India Company is nothing against the Dutch East India company. From WP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company)

> was a chartered company established in 1602

> It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock.[1] It was also arguably the world's first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies

> Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asia trade. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods. By contrast, the rest of Europe combined sent only 882,412 people from 1500 to 1795, and the fleet of the English (later British) East India Company, the VOC’s nearest competitor, was a distant second to its total traffic with 2,690 ships and a mere one-fifth the tonnage of goods carried by the VOC. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 1600s.

> The Dutch East India Company remained an important trading concern for almost two centuries, paying an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years.

keeptrying3• 16 years ago

In every Indian history textbook, The East India company is listed as the initial vehicle which brought about the British rule in India.

Since I was brought up in India, I had a VERY -ve reaction just reading the story here on Hacker News. It was kind of built in.

I dont understand why this guy would pick this name for his company. Maybe he never intends to sell in India.

mahmud• 16 years ago

Of course not. It's an upscale boutique store in London, selling colonial prestige to has-been ex-imperialists.

drinian• 16 years ago

There's also an upscale clothing chain in Malaysia and Singapore called "British India," oddly enough.

unexpected• 16 years ago

I agree with you, but come on, as an Indian wouldn't you LOVE to own the Dutch East India company? I also think reverse colonialism played a huge part in Tata's purchase of Land Rover and Jaguar.

"Turnabout is fair play" as they say - I'm sure there are a bunch of Indians who would love to get a hold of "prized" British assets. It's an ego thing.

whatwhatwhat• 16 years ago

Like eating the bones of your defeated opponents kind-of-a-thing?

keeptrying3• 16 years ago

After considering my initial reaction I realise that the whole problem is that our emotions so stirred up by stupid stuff like this. It'd be better if we forget about the british and get on with building a great nation. Yes I admit I have the same problem. :)

For non indians some context - the media in Indian loves to use the British raj and the political correctness associated with it to gain viewers.

nebula2• 16 years ago

Yeah right. 'The holocaust also had a huge role to play in Jews getting their homeland'. What British colonialism did to Indians was nothing less than the holocaust on creating human misery and deaths. But of course, for people sitting on the other side of the planet reading history through the eyes of the plunderers, British colonialism was benevolent towards Indians in many ways. I can't blame you for that. Winners get to write history and sadly Indians are too busy subsisting, to get their history right at least within their borders.

kranner3• 16 years ago

Yup, to any non-Indians who want to understand the sentiment, it's like finding a brand with the name:

'The National Socialist Final Solution Coffee Company'.

What the hell is the guy thinking?

kranner3• 16 years ago

I'm happy to be downvoted on the parent because it looks like I've made the exact point I had tried to make.

keeptrying3• 16 years ago

That's true. It's very similar. In our history books we are taught graphic accounts of murder by the British raj and by this company. And that too throught our student lives. It's pretty repulsive.

But then again that's exactly what this guy wants. They say that there's no such thing as bad press. He got mentioned on the BBC with absolutley no marketting campaign.

nebula2• 16 years ago

I have one word for the guy: mercenary Obviously he is using that name for publicity reasons.

Keyframe• 16 years ago

So, the company that played a major role in modern India's history, American Revolution and for the most part British modern history is now a brand with a bit more than a coffee and tea shop? I wouldn't call that exactly a 'return'. It's more of a homage+memorabilia setup than anything.

aresant• 16 years ago

Anybody have data on what he paid for the brand?

kragen• 16 years ago

I would be highly amused if some Americans visiting London stole the store's entire stock and dumped it into the harbor, for old time's sake. I would be less amused if activists decided to re-enact some of the other episodes from the history of this company.

East India Company brand returns after 135-year absence

Related Stories