cmat  342    

 

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 Campaign Evaluation


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International Advertising:  The pleasures of direct translations…...*

 

  • Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was 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.

    

  • The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem-Feeling Free", was

translated into the Japanese market as "When smoking Salem, you will

feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."

    

  • When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same

packaging as in the US, with the beautiful 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.

    

  • 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."

 
    * Lederer,  R. (1996).   Fractured English:  A pleasury of bloopers and blunders, fluffs and flubs, and gaffes and goofs.   New York:  Pocket Books.