Language
Difference Humor
From Tom Antion & Associates
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Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign:
"Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
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."
In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi
Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the
dead."
Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came
out as "eat your fingers off."
The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem - Feeling Free," got translated
in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind
seems to be free and empty."
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.
Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that
Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the
nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.
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's mistakenly
thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that
"It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted
the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts
proclaimed "I Saw the Potato."
Chicken-man Frank Perdue's slogan, "It takes a tough man to make a tender
chicken," got terribly mangled in another Spanish translation. A photo of Perdue with
one of his birds appeared on billboards all over Mexico with a caption that explained
"It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused."
Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos before finding
out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts." In this case, however, the
name problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.
Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno
magazine.
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet
Water.
Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking
markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the
owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.
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