Redwing Posted June 29, 2002 Share Posted June 29, 2002 What happens if a marketing company can't speak the language of its target consumers? Here are a few examples... Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer from diarrhea." Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into German only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "manure stick". Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux. The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem-Feeling Free", was translated into the Japanese market as "When smoking Salem, you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty." When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read English. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa). In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water." Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave," in Chinese. When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company mistakenly thought the spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that "It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant." The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, "ko-kou-ko-le," which can be loosely translated as "happiness in the mouth." Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off." When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrion Posted June 29, 2002 Share Posted June 29, 2002 ...thank you for that 2 minutes of my life that I want back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 yeah Red, stop stealing other ppls material j/k it twaz furny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted June 30, 2002 Author Share Posted June 30, 2002 Got that in an email *runs off with Tyrion's two minutes* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 *shrugs* stop? thief? *walks away*not my two minutes so what do i care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 ummm.....Yea give us our 10 mins back:D no jk it took me 1min:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Rommel Posted June 30, 2002 Share Posted June 30, 2002 eehehehehehe... good find, red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle d'Tana Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 hmmm, are these pplz stupid???????????????????????????????????????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted July 5, 2002 Author Share Posted July 5, 2002 No, they're just...well...stupid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LQ. Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 Originally posted by Redwing No, they're just...well...stupid I beleive the PC term is "Intelectually Challenged". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 what's a PC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle d'Tana Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 hahahahaaa, I think we have some stupid people in here too! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Doll Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 Maybe it is only people in a little dumb or stupid moment, it will pass and theý will forget it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted July 7, 2002 Share Posted July 7, 2002 Forget what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted July 7, 2002 Author Share Posted July 7, 2002 Shhhhh...it's a secret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted July 7, 2002 Share Posted July 7, 2002 ooooooooh i like secrets... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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