Advertising Slogans Gone
Wrong...
|
| Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation"
translated into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave," in Chinese. |
| 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). |
| 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 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". |
| 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 German only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not
too many people had use for the "manure stick". |
| 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. |
| Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux
used the following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux. |
| In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic
Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water." |
