Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Make sure you know the correct translation

The Worst Slogan Translations Ever...

13) 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." 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."

12) Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux."

11) 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."

10) Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

9) Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

8) When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.

7) Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

6) 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."

5) When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

4) 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).

3) The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are You Lactating?"

2) General Motors had a very famous fiasco in trying to market the Nova car in Central and South America. "No va" in Spanish means, "It Doesn't Go".

1) The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", 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 "kokoukole", translating into "Happiness in the Mouth."




7 comments:

Wanda said...

Well shut my mouth...you never know what you might say....

Very cute Patty ~~

Chuck Pefley said...

Great collection of foibles. Now if you could just re-translate the obviously drug induced ramblings of your partner of 53 years ... -:)

Reader Wil said...

You see a good dictionary and a great sense of humour is what we all need! Good post.

Renie Burghardt said...

Funny! I guess Coca-Cola finally got it right though with the "Happiness in the mouth!" slogan. :-)

Have a good evening, Patty.

Unknown said...

"Are You Lactating" joke is pretty funny, but then so are the rest of these her.

Thanks for the humor.

Tom said...

These had me laughing Patty.. they are now copied and being email to friends.. :O)

Merle said...

Dear Patty ~~ These are funny, it's all in the translation. And I liked
the Free kittens joke.
I have left an award for you on my last post. Take care, Love, Merle.