Advertising Aches
We’ve been talking so much about advertising lately that I just had to share with you some examples of the kind of advertising you Don’t want to do. These tips came from Dan the Man of WAHumor.com
Coors put its slogan, “Turn it loose,” into Spanish where it was read as “Suffer from diarrhea.”
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux”.
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.”
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.
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).
Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”, in Chinese.
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.”
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.”
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” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.
Stop on over WAHumor.com and tell Dan I said thanks for the laugh!
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://2wahms.com/38/advertising-aches/trackback
Comments
Oh no way this is just too crazy. My business class book had some of these same ones in it, that I just read the other night. I really was about to come post them too! :O
Either way, here’s the other that I saw that wasn’t posted…
KFC’s patented slogal “Finger-lickin’ good” was understood in Japanese as “Bite your Fingers Off”
Posted by: Kara | May 3rd, 2007 12:28
Have you heard of Laughter Yoga? They just celebrated World Laughter Day on Sunday May 6th. On that day my children and I got our joke books and told each other jokes all day. They would’ve loved this! Hey, it can be World Laughter Day everyday right? As soon as they get home I’m showing them this. They’re gonna love it!
Have A Great Day!…and…
StayMotivatedForever!
Yolanda Crisostomo
Maui, HI
Posted by: Yolanda Crisostomo | May 8th, 2007 16:42
I’ve never heard of Laughter Yoga or World Laughter Day but you’re so right … every day can be World Laughter Day!
Posted by: Anita | May 9th, 2007 11:16