When visiting another country I’ve often found myself revisiting the same companies and TV shows again, but this time with a bit of a spin and a new cast of actors that can make you wonder if your aren’t in some alternative reality. Take McDonalds for example, in Britain it’s where you go for a no-thrills cheap eat, but in Buenos Aires it’s occupants are Tommy-Hillfiger and Calvin Klein eating in one of the most stylish buildings on the street, and paying more than a steak dinner.

And the TV too.

Recently I’ve been getting into Life on Mars a BBC scif-fi police drama, and discovered, while visiting New York, that there had been an American version with Harvey Keitel, then today while in Spain I saw a Spanish version. The plots are the same but with it’s own cultural-twists and expressions that very much like a different language makes you rethink the assumptions in your own.

(Spain)

(USA)

(UK, Original)

Now I got to thinking in the shower that maybe the same was true on the web, but not remembering an example of one I sacrificed the Pantene Pro-v and got online. Not sure which websites to compare I took a look around the room: bookshelf… book-publisher… HarperCollins:

(UK)

(India)

(USA)

(New Zealand)

The designs, just like McDonald’s and the TV show, are slightly different and I’m not sure in this case whether it’s down to a marketing decision or just different design directions.

Returning to the shower I wondered how different the process would be between these different mediums and whether one department was in-charge overall. I also thought that maybe I should buy one of those shower radios to stop sound-out these kind of thoughts.