2. P & G used a television
commercial in Japan that
was used in Europe. The
ad showed a woman and
her husband bathing
together. This was
considered as invasion of
privacy in Japan.
3. Managers at an American
company were startled
when they discovered
that the brand name of
the cooking oil they were
making in Latin American
country translated into
Spanish as “Jackass oil”.
4. Pepsi lost its dominant market share to coke in South East Asia
when Pepsi changed the colour of its vending machines and
coolers from deep regal blue to light ice blue as light blue is
associated with death and mourning.
5. The American slogan for
Salem cigarettes “Salem
– Feeling Free” was
translated into the
Japanese market as
“when smoking salem,
you feel so refreshed
that your mind seems to
be free and empty.
7. When Puffs tissues tried to introduce its product, they were quick
to learn that “puff” in Germany is a colloquial term for whore
house.
8. Panasonic marketed their touch screen computers
using the mascot Woody the Woodpecker. Wood in
American slang meant hard penis.
9. KFC made some early missteps into China – one of them being their
famous advertising campaign slogan: “Finger lickin' good!” translating
to “Eat your fingers off.” Not so appealing anymore...
10. Coors put its slogan, "Turn it
loose," into Spanish, where
it was read as "Suffer from
diarrhea."
11. In 2001, Honda intended to release a car known as the Fit in
Asian markets as the Honda Fitta on the European market.
However, in Swedish, fitta means female genitalia. Honda
then rebranded the car as Honda Jazz
12. GM’s Chevrolet Nova was a
failure in Spanish speaking
countries (Central and South
America) because it translates
to "It Doesn't Go". Who wants a
car that fails at its sole job?
13. The Coca-Cola name in
China was first interpreted
as "Ke-kou-ke-la,"
meaning "Bite the wax
tadpole" or "female horse
stuffed with
wax," depending on the
dialect. Coke then
researched to find a
phonetic equivalent "ko-
kou-ko-le," translating into
"happiness in the mouth."
14. The ADA was so
successful with its "Got
Milk?" campaign that
they decided to expand
the ads to Mexico.
Unfortunately,
the Spanish translation
is "Are you lactating?"
15. Nike offended Muslims when the "flaming
air" logo for its Nike Air sneakers looked
comparable to the Arabic form of God's
name "Allah".
16. In 1971, Ford couldn't understand why
their Pinto model wasn’t selling in Brazil.
After some research, they found out
that “Pinto” in Brazilian is slang for “tiny
male genitals.”
17. When Gerber began selling
baby food in Africa, they
decided to use the exact same
packaging as in the US, with
their infamous baby on the
label. However, since the
majority of people can’t read
English in Africa, companies
there sometimes put pictures
on the label of what's inside.
18. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in
France called Cue, the name of a
famous porno magazine.
19. In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the
name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."
20. 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."
