PRODUCT NAMES CAN GET LOST IN TRANSLATION
The original ad slogans that the Swedes packaged for their Electrolux vacuum cleaner was "Nothing Sucks Like Electrolux!" In Seoul, South Korea, the government recieved so many complaints about taxi drivers that it had to set up a telephone hotline for passengers who encountered rudeness or dangerous driving. To advise customers of this service, a sing was posted on the inside rear door notifying English soeaking passengers of the availability of an "Intercourse Discomfort Report Center". WE chuckle at such clumsey translations, yet we don't realize how equally susceptible are we English speakers and writers. Despite endl;ess boardroom cogitation, many a multi national corporation has ended up with its brand name or slogan on its face. Global slip-ups remind us that few words and idioms can be literally translated. More that others, the automobile industry seems to be prone to linguistic accidents. The classic story of vehicular misnaming is associated with General Motors. As the literal translation of the Nova to Spanish means "star", why then, GM wanted to know, were Hispanic Chevrolet dealerships so unaccommodating to this model? That's because when spoken aloud, Nova sounds like "no va" which means "It doesn't go". GM changed the name to Caribe. Ford Motor Company's Caliente turned out to mean "streetwalker" in Mexico. Ford came up with a second flat tire in Japan, where Cortina translated as "jalopy". The company discovered that a truck model it called Fiers means "ugly old woman" in Spanish. As if this was not enough, it turns out that Pinto is a slong term meaning "small male appendage". Even the luxurious Rolls Royce company found out the hard way that in german, Silver Mist means "human waste". Here are a dozen more classic cross boarder marketing misfortunes:
The Colas of the world have been shaken explosively by mistranslation. When Pepsi Cola invaded the huge Chinese and German markets, the effort initially fizzled. The product's slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi generation", was rendered (or should I say rent?) into Chinese as "Pepsi brings back your dead ancestors" and into German as "Come out of the grave with Pepsi".
Coca Cola also discovered in Taiwan that the Chinese characters chosen to sound like its name mean "Bite the wax tadpole". Fresca's brand name fixxled in Mexico, where its name turned out to be slang for "lesbian". Perdue Chicken's slogan "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" read, in Spanish, "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate".
Braniff Air Lines, promoting its comfortable leather seats, used the headline "Sentado en cuero", which was interpreted as "sit naked".
A beer company slogan "Turn it loose", became, in Spanish< equivalent to "Suffer from diarrhea".
3M translated its Scotch tape slogan "Sticks like crazy", into Japanese and came up with a sticky problem. The slogan slogan translated literally into Japanese as "It sticks foolishly".
The Kellogg Company encountered a problem when it introduced its Bran Buds to Sweden. The name translates loosly into Swedish as "Burnt Farmer".
Vicks had to change its product name to Wicks before entering the German market when it discovered that Vicks sounded like a German expletive.
Colgate Palmolive had to discard Cue as the name for its toothpaste in france. Cue is the name of a widely circulated French pornographic magazine.
Gerber Baby Food initally packaged their African product just the same as in the U.S., with a cute baby picture on the front. They didn't realize that because so many Africans cannot read, nearly all packaged products sold in Africa carry of what is inside. Pureed baby, horrors!
Muslims in bangladesh rioted and ransacked Thom McAnn stores when they mistook the company's logo on some sandals for the Aribic letters for Allah. One person was killed and 50 people injured before the melee ended.