Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into
Spanish, where it read as, "Suffer from diarrhea".
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".
Scandinavian
vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an
American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
In
Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger
lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off".
When
Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the
same packaging as in the U.S., 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 English.
Colgate
introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of
a notorious porno magazine.
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).
In
Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the
name into "Schweppes Toilet Water".
Pepsi's
"Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated
into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave,"
in Chinese.
We
all know about GM's Chevy Nova meaning "it won't go"
in Spanish markets, but did you know that Ford had a similar
problem in Brazil with the Pinto? Pinto was Brazilian slang
for "tiny male genitals". Ford renamed the automobile
Corcel, meaning "stallion".
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".
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."
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".
Probably
the most famous of all is John Kennedy's announcement to
the people of Berlin, "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
JFK thought he said, "I am a citizen of Berlin!"
What he really said was, "I am a jelly doughnut!"
"Berliner" is German for "jelly doughnut".)
A
U.S. couple had some friends from England visit a few years
back. Their teenage daughter got a huge laugh from the name
of an airline back then: The Trump Shuttle Donald Trump's
airline). They said in England, "trump" means
"fart"!
-excerpts
from different internet mailings
