Collecting Rabbis!

I work in a religious neighborhood not too far from the central bus station in Jerusalem. Many people from my office head to the ultra-orthodox supermarket across the street to pick up some lunch or dinner. The store is called "Zol Po" in Hebrew, meaning "cheap here". You wouldn't really be able to tell the difference between Zol Po or any other supermarket really. It ain't fancy. No curry sauces or fancy coffees to be found here. It's has has your basics and all of their products are approved by the highest standard of Kashrut (The standards of food being kosher).

A friend of mine who I work with brought me back something really special from Zol Po last month. It was a sticker album. The stickers can be found in bags of potato chips, doritos, bamba and cheetos. I opened the bag of chips and to my surprise was a sticker of a Rabbi. I opened the album and saw that the entire album is a Rabbi sticker album.

I have been collecting Rabbis for over a month now. Thus far I have gotten the Satmar Rebbe, one of the Chief Rabbis of Israel and several lesser known Rabbis that I never heard of. Exciting stuff, huh?

I never really thought about marketing in the ultra-orthodox community here. They are among the poorest in the nation so I was quite surprised when the elite company decided to move forward with this campaign. Then again, it's probably an easy market to sell to. I mean, look at the way the elections work. A Rabbi endorses a party and their entire sect of followers follow suit and vote for their candidate.

I recall several years ago when Pepsi decided to finally sell their product here they had an advertisement showing a monkey evolving into a pepsi drinker.

Of course the ultra-orthodox don't believe in evolution - they are creationists. So the rabbinic authorities refused to grant Pepsi a kosher certificate unless they pulled their ad - which they did of course.

Only in Israel.

Tags: israeli pop culture, marketing, rabbis