Obamasnacks - banned in Indonesia

According to Yeni, these scrumptious Obama snacks were banned in Indonesia because they were marketed without an expiry date. Silly Indonesians! Everyone knows that Obama expires on Nov 4, 2016!

YLKI Minta BB POM Bandung Segera Tarik Snack Obama (Thanks, Yeni!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Bemopolis

#6: I am going to assume that you are being willfully stupid, instead of just fucking retarded. What can I say, I’m in a giving vein.

“Please tell me one thing B.O. has done right since he got in office.”

Announced an end -date for Gitmo, announced an end-date for Iraq, made it possible for a woman to purchase birth control even if the Walgreen’s janitor finds it an abomination before Yahweh, exposed the OLC opinions that the fourth amendment existed at the whim of the President,

” I am incredibly unimpressed so far at how unPresidential he has been (giving a box of 25 DVDs as a gift to the UK PM?)”

I assume by un-Presidential you mean he a) speaks in complete sentences and b) hasn’t shaped intelligence to justify a war he’s been planning since Inauguration Day. Because really, the only people who give a shit what Gordon Brown got in his gift basket are you and Fleet Street.

“and how his HUGE spending has killed my life savings in my 401k.”

Yeah right. Because economy was just doing FUCKING GREAT before he was elected. Wait, Obama was elected in 2007?
dculberson

Daemon, that was hilarious.

And chas, if the best you can do is “oh, it’s gonna be so bad, wait and see,” added to a bunch of unintelligent rants and misspellings, then the response you get will be less than credulous.
dainel

If it’s banned, the linked article didn’t say so. My Bahasa Indonesia is not that great, me being in neighbouring Malaysia. (The language is slightly different).

Title: YLKI call on BB POM Bandung to quickly pull Obama Snack

Bandung is a city in Indonesia. Paragraph 1 says the person making the request is named Sularsi, a staff member from the Complaints and Punishment Division (Divisi Pengaduan dan Hukum), of the Indonesian Consumer Affairs (?) Foundation (I do not now if this is an official government body, or an NGO). The call is being made to the Medicine and Food Prefect’s Office (BBPOM) in Bandung.

Sularsi said on Thursday (5/3/2009), “In this case, the ones who should take action is BB POM. They should quickly pull this product from the market because it is dangerous if consumed”.

According to him/her, to know how dangerous this Obama snack is, it is not necessary to wait for laborotory test results. It is obvious from the irresponsibility of the producer because they did not clearly state who made it. Not only that, it does not have an expiry date, and the production code violates regulations.

Sounds to me like Sularsi is just making wild accusations.

The snack is widely distributed in Bandung. The attractive packing with a caricature of the American President Barrack Obama, and it’s low price makes this snack very popular with kids.

There are two designs. In the first one, a caricature of Obama, his right hand holds a white flag. On the flag, is written “Snack anti terrorist”. He holds a green coloured bomb in his right hand. (I’m not sure if this is supposed to mean anything). The word “Obama” is on the packet, each letter shows the American flag.

In the other design, a caricature of Obama, first and 2nd finger shows the victory sign. There is the word “Peace”. His left hand holds a “world ball”. (I’m guessing it’s a ball with the world map printed on it). The word “Obama” is in yellow.

There are some numbers on the back of the packets. Might these be license numbers?

A phone number for consumers to call should be on each packet, but this number is not present (so says the report, I do not know if there is such a rule in Indonesia). There is no “Halal” sign from MUI (“halal” in this case means it’s OK for Muslims to eat. Muslim has some dietary restrictions, something like “kosher” for Jews).

Each packet is sold for Rp500 (about 4 US cents), has the words “contains prize if lucky”. Nearly each packet contains a plastic toy, kids call it “chiki”. It is mixed with the snack, the toy is not wrapped in plastic before being put in the snack packet.

A 4 cent snack, that includes a free plastic toy. Try to beat that! :)
Phikus

Odin861: I see. The Turdblossom Treats(tm), conversely, didn’t get pulled because they were clearly labeled rat poison. I understand they left a terrible aftertaste, but they went for a steal! People seemed to completely buy them at first, due to all the stars & stripes on the packaging, but the cost was eventually the entire economy, millions of lives, and possibly our collective future. -Chock full of neocon-y goodness!
Chas44

#9, this is the front desk with your wake up call. No? Still gonna hit the snooze button? OK. Fair enough. Call you again in three years, when several Constitutional Ammendments have been thoroughly buggered, the dollar’s worth zero, our entrepreneuial spirit’s been dashed, the nation’s broke, and the FDIC won’t insure the $50 you have left in the bank. But at least we’ll all drive free Priuses and get free checkups at the clinic. Go back to sleep now.
Evil Jim

2016? I hope you’re not serious. I’m optimistic too but he still has plenty of opportunity to mess things up.
freshacconci

Wouldn’t the Obama presidency expiration date be Jan. 20, 2017?
Bemopolis

#12: Yawn.

I recall your type trying to get the public to dance to that tune during the Clinton years. After eight years of that, the dollar was so worthless that the government had 200 billion of them laying around after his last budget was paid for. Luckily for us, Dubya took care of that mess before we were buried in black ink.

I must say, though, it is nice to see the right wing vowing to respect the Constitution again. Yet another advantage of a Democratic administration. Now, if we could just get them to respect democracy and the results thereof…
UncommonSense

I’m not sure why everyone would know that Cory (unless they’re planning something). Everyone SHOULD know the 2016 election is on the 1st Tuesday following the 1st Monday – or Nov. 8th, 2016.

Unlike other trolls here, I come correct. ;)
Enoch_Root

Yeah predicting the expiration date of the President may get you a visit from the secret service.
dainel

Yeni is a common name in Indonesia. Well, OK not that common. But from the 50+ Indonesians I know, 2 were named Yeni.
mdh

#12 – I think you just woke up. It’s 2009, not 2002, friend.
ill lich

I heard they were pulled because there was an apparent allergic reaction: some conservatives started foaming at the mouth.
urederra

expiration date would be Jan. 20. 2013
Auto Parts for Brains

Looks like everybody wants a piece of the President. This is not something new though. Catholics eat the flesh of their deity every time they go to church.

Translating the news clip looks like the pack is called “Obama Anti Terrorist”. They are indeed banned because they don’t follow necessary health guidelinesfor consumable items in Indonesia like expiration dates etc.etc. They have two designs and sells for 500Rp each.
NicoNicoNico

Okay, bickering does not help your case. I don’t care about your political views, this is just giving me a bad taste in my mouth.

(Shouldn’t have come into a political convo. *sigh*)

*ahem* And I like Obama. He has been in office exactly 45 days, give him a chance. Don’t expect miracles, either; I’m only hoping that *something* is done with healthcare, as our current system makes the NHS sound like a godsend (and I had a friend die because of the UK’s crap system). Besides, it’s not just him, it’s also Congress, so nobody can blame anything that happens solely on the president.
TroofSeeker

Way to go, Chas. Blame the mess on the poor guy that has to clean it up, then stand behind him bitching about how it’s gonna get worse.
Ask yourself if you’re a republican or an American. Then stop rowing backward. Your venom isn’t making anything better. Oh, and have a nice day!
Daemon

Actually, he was marked Best Before January 20 2009.

How on earth could anyone remotely human live up to the hype?
Talia

#3 let’s hope not.
broenadams

Is Yeni the next version of Xeni?
arrghiamapirate

Oh, just quit bickering about them. The only problem I see is that you won’t be able to by them with anything less than a United States of America 1 Million dollar bill.
odin861

#5 What?! Please tell me one thing B.O. has done right since he got in office. How are you doing any better. I understand it is still very early, I am still HOPEful, but I am incredibly unimpressed so far at how unPresidential he has been (giving a box of 25 DVDs as a gift to the UK PM?) and how his HUGE spending has killed my life savings in my 401k. I may never be able to retire now.
odin861

I think they pulled them off the shelf because people were so excited to buy them, ripped them open expecting incredible goodness and realized something didn’t quite taste right.
TroofSeeker

George W. brought a bag of these to Obama.
Obama replied “Thanks, George! By the way, did you hear that we’ve been offered 100 Brazilian troops to help with the war on terror?”
“Wow, that’s great!” George replied. “A hundred brazillion! That’s more than we’ve got over there!”