INTERNATIONAL

ADVERTISING

Top Blunders :PSUBMITTED BY:

NAGHMA PK

REG NO: 13397057

P & G used a television commercial in Japan that was used in Europe. The ad showed a woman and

her husband bathing together. This was

considered as invasion of privacy in Japan.

Managers at an American company were startled when they discovered

that the brand name of the cooking oil they were making in Latin American

country translated into Spanish as “Jackass oil”.

Pepsi lost its dominant market share to coke in South East Asia when Pepsi changed the colour of its vending machines and coolers from deep regal blue to light ice blue as light blue is

associated with death and mourning.

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes “Salem

– Feeling Free” was translated into the Japanese market as

“when smoking salem, you feel so refreshed

that your mind seems to be free and empty.

The hair products company

introduced “the mist stick”, a

curling iron, into Germany only to find that “mist” is slang for manure.

When Puffs tissues tried to introduce its product, they were quick to learn that “puff” in Germany is a colloquial term for whore

house.

Panasonic marketed their touch screen computers using the mascot Woody the Woodpecker. Wood in

American slang meant hard penis.

KFC made some early missteps into China – one of them being their famous advertising campaign slogan: “Finger lickin' good!” translating

to “Eat your fingers off.” Not so appealing anymore...

Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer from

diarrhea."

In 2001, Honda intended to release a car known as the Fit in Asian markets as the Honda Fitta on the European market. However, in Swedish, fitta means female genitalia. Honda

then rebranded the car as Honda Jazz

GM’s Chevrolet Nova was a failure in Spanish speaking

countries (Central and South America) because it translates

to "It Doesn't Go". Who wants a car that fails at its sole job?

The Coca-Cola name in China was first interpreted

as "Ke-kou-ke-la," meaning "Bite the wax

tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with

wax," depending on the dialect. Coke then

researched to find a phonetic equivalent "ko-

kou-ko-le," translating into "happiness in the mouth."

The ADA was so successful with its "Got Milk?" campaign that

they decided to expand the ads to Mexico.

Unfortunately, the Spanish translation is "Are you lactating?"

Nike offended Muslims when the "flaming air" logo for its Nike Air sneakers looked comparable to the Arabic form of God's

name "Allah".

In 1971, Ford couldn't understand why their Pinto model wasn’t selling in Brazil.

After some research, they found out that “Pinto” in Brazilian is slang for “tiny

male genitals.”

When Gerber began selling baby food in Africa, they

decided to use the exact same packaging as in the US, with their infamous baby on the label. However, since the

majority of people can’t read English in Africa, companies

there sometimes put pictures on the label of what's inside.

Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a

famous porno magazine.

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."

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."