Here are a few cross-cultural tidbits I just received that may amuse some
of you.
Larry
>
>>>
>>>Ad Slogans That Don't Translate Well!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>1. Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was
>>>read as
>>>
>>>"Suffer from diarrhea."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>2. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into Germany
>>>only to find
>>>
>>>out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the
>>>
>>>"manure stick."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>3. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an
>>>
>>>American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>4. In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good"
>>>came
>>>
>>>out as "eat your fingers off."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>5. 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."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>6. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same
>>>
>>>packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian 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.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>7. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a
>>>
>>>notorious porno magazine.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>8. 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).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>9. In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name
>>>into
>>>
>>>"Schweppes Toilet Water."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>10. Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into
>>>"Pepsi brings
>>>
>>>your ancestors back from the grave," in Chinese.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>11. We all know about GM's Chevy Nova meaning "won't go" in Spanish
>>>
>>>markets, but did you know that Ford had a similar problem in Brazil with
>>>
>>>the Pinto? Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford
>>>renamed
>>>
>>>the automobile Corcel, meaning "horse."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>12. Hunt-Wesson introduced Big John products in French Canada as Gros
>>>
>>>Jos. Later they found out that in slang it means "big breasts."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>13. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to make a
>>>"tender
>>>
>>>chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make
>>>a
>>>
>>>chicken affectionate."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>14. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were
>>>
>>>supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you."
>>>
>>>Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" meant to
>>>
>>>embarrass while it actually meant "to impregnate" , so the ad read: "It
>>>won't
>>>
>>>leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>15. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la",
>>>meaning
>>>
>>>"Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on
>>>
>>>the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic
>>>
>>>equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>16. Some folks from England got a huge laugh from the name of an airline
>>>back
>>>
>>>then: The Trump Shuttle (Donald Trump's airline). They said in England,
>>>
>>>"Trump" translated into "fart"!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>17. And finally, not even Nike is exempt. Nike has a television
>>>commercial for
>>>
>>>hiking shoes that was shot in Kenya using Samburu tribesmen. The camera
>>>
>>>closes in on one tribesman who speaks in native Maa. As he speaks, the
>>>
>>>Nike slogan "Just do it" appears on the screen. Lee Cronk, an
>>>
>>>anthropologist at the University of Cincinnati, says the Kenyan is
>>>really
>>>
>>>saying, "I don't want these. Give me big shoes." Says Nike's Elizabeth
>>>
>>>Dolan, "We thought nobody in America would know what he said."
>>>
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