Do you remember Chevrolets' popular car, the Chevy Nova? Well, while it did well here in the States, it's success was abysmal in Latin America. This is because 'No va' is Spanish for "doesn't go."
Ford was forced to refrain from marketing its popular Pinto in Brazil in the late '70s when it learned that pinto is Portuguese slang for "tiny penis." The name was changed to the 'Corcel' instead - the Portuguese word for "horse."
In China, Coca-Cola was initially rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, in different dialects the phrase translated as "female horse stuffed with wax" or "bite the wax tadpole." Coke replaced it with the much better Ko-kou-ko-le ("happiness in the mouth").
As if anyone can tell the difference...
Pepsi's late '60s slogan, "COME ALIVE WITH THE PEPSI GENERATION," was mangled in a Mandarin translation as "PEPSI WILL BRING BACK YOUR ANCESTORS FROM THE DEAD."
Parker marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico with ads that were supposed to say, "IT WON'T LEAK IN YOUR POCKET AND EMBARRASS YOU." But because of a bad verb choice (they used the englishy sounding word 'embarazar' for "embarrass"), the ads instead said,
"IT WON'T LEAK IN YOUR POCKET AND MAKE YOU PREGNANT."
Frank Perdue's the founder of Perdue chicken had a slogan hat said, "IT TAKES A TOUGH MAN TO MAKE A TENDER CHICKEN."
However, in Spain the slogan showed up as "IT TAKES A VIRILE MAN TO AROUSE A CHICKEN."
In China, KFC's slogan "FINGERLICKIN' GOOD" somehow got mistranslated as "EAT YOUR FINGERS OFF."
Coors' "TURN IT LOOSE" slogan also ran aground in Spain, where local idiom caused the phrase to be translated into the significantly less appealing, " SUFFER FROM DIARRHEA!"
Gerber's baby food with it's sweet, smiling baby on the label backfired horribly in Africa. Because of high illiteracy on the continent, Africa's consumers expect to see a product's contents pictured on the packaging.....
Ford was forced to refrain from marketing its popular Pinto in Brazil in the late '70s when it learned that pinto is Portuguese slang for "tiny penis." The name was changed to the 'Corcel' instead - the Portuguese word for "horse."
In China, Coca-Cola was initially rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, in different dialects the phrase translated as "female horse stuffed with wax" or "bite the wax tadpole." Coke replaced it with the much better Ko-kou-ko-le ("happiness in the mouth").
As if anyone can tell the difference...
Pepsi's late '60s slogan, "COME ALIVE WITH THE PEPSI GENERATION," was mangled in a Mandarin translation as "PEPSI WILL BRING BACK YOUR ANCESTORS FROM THE DEAD."
Parker marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico with ads that were supposed to say, "IT WON'T LEAK IN YOUR POCKET AND EMBARRASS YOU." But because of a bad verb choice (they used the englishy sounding word 'embarazar' for "embarrass"), the ads instead said,
"IT WON'T LEAK IN YOUR POCKET AND MAKE YOU PREGNANT."
Frank Perdue's the founder of Perdue chicken had a slogan hat said, "IT TAKES A TOUGH MAN TO MAKE A TENDER CHICKEN."
However, in Spain the slogan showed up as "IT TAKES A VIRILE MAN TO AROUSE A CHICKEN."
In China, KFC's slogan "FINGERLICKIN' GOOD" somehow got mistranslated as "EAT YOUR FINGERS OFF."
Coors' "TURN IT LOOSE" slogan also ran aground in Spain, where local idiom caused the phrase to be translated into the significantly less appealing, " SUFFER FROM DIARRHEA!"
Gerber's baby food with it's sweet, smiling baby on the label backfired horribly in Africa. Because of high illiteracy on the continent, Africa's consumers expect to see a product's contents pictured on the packaging.....
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