10 Worldwide Marketing Blunders
1. Coors® - I guess the beer guys were probably using their product when they translated their "Turn It Loose" campaign into Spanish. It read: "Suffer from Diarrhea." Gross.
2. Parker Pen® - The pen is mightier than the sword, but it's not a contraceptive. When Parker translated their "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you" campaign into Spanish, they translated the word embarrass to embarazar which means "to impregnate." Final product: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
3. Electrolux® - The Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux definitely piqued interest in America when they ran this vacuum cleaner campaign: "Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux." Wow.
4. Clairol® - This hair care product company introduced their Mist Stick curling iron in Germany. Too bad they didn't do their homework: "mist" is slang for manure in German. Gee, your hair smells horrific!
5. Pepsi® -They translated their slogan "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" into Chinese as "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave." Might have worked if Dr. Frankenstein was from China...
6. Colgate Palmolive® - They introduced a toothpaste in France called "Cue," which also happens to be the name of a famous naughty magazine printed there. Tisk, tisk.
7. Perdue® - Their marketing geniuses had the slogan "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken," translated into Spanish as "It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate." Uh...nope, I'm not going there.
8. American Dairy Association® - The campaign they launched to push their dairy products in Mexico probably didn't reach the desired audience when they translated "Got Milk?" into Spanish as "Are You Lactating?"
9.American Airlines® - AA almost created the excitement and new
business they needed when they launched their "Fly in Leather" campaign in the Mexican market. While they meant to highlight upgraded leather seats, they instead used a literal translation, "Vuela en cuero," or "Fly Naked!"
10. General Motors® - GM decided to market their Nova model to the Spanish-speaking market without researching the name. Too bad: "no va" in Spanish means "It Doesn't Go." I guess the marketing folks knew something back then that we all know now.
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