Marketing Flops

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 02:50 AM

Cracking an international market is a goal of most growing corporations. It shouldn't be that hard, yet even the big multi-nationals run into trouble because of language and cultural differences. For example...

The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, "ko-kou-ko-le," which can be loosely translated as "happiness in the mouth."

In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead."

Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off."

When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company's mistakenly thought the spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that "It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato."

Chicken-man Frank Perdue's slogan, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," got terribly mangled in another Spanish translation. A photo of Perdue with one of his birds appeared on billboards all over Mexico with a caption that explained "It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused."

Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts." In this case, however, the name problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.

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

Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.

and finally...

In an effort to boost orange juice sales in predominantly continental breakfast eating England, a campaign was devised to extoll the drink's eye-opening, pick-me-up qualities. Hence, the slogan, "Orange juice. It gets your pecker up."

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:02 AM

That made a nice little email

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:08 AM

'morning, my friend!

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:09 AM

ummm 9.00pm
i didnt see you were on

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:12 AM

5am here...it's all in one's perspective!
either way, it's my bed time in an hour and 1/2!

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:13 AM

Yeesss there was a rumour goin round that you are a vampire..

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:18 AM

I've heard....

just 'cause my teeth look like this:
Welcome To Best Smileys
What To Type (Copy & Paste) Graphic That Will Show

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:20 AM

Yeech... thats fuckin nasty......

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:21 AM

know of a good dentist?

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:24 AM

Na the bastards all charge too much.... i can do yer teeth for free if you want..... spak fillers great stuff, a bit chalky but cheap as...

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:35 AM

don't cha have an HMO?

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:37 AM

HMO??? I guess your talkin medical insuren$$$$$$, We use Medicare.... the government pays for most stuff but not the dentist..

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:40 AM

really? Damn..that sux..

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:42 AM

I had one tooth yanked cause i couldnt afford the "anywhere between $600-$1000" for root canal....

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:46 AM

did they use the string and door method?

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:49 AM

Na..... these massive steel things i think they use on mining trucks to undo bolts and stuff

Knee in the chest.....

**Burner02** · 04-30-2003, 05:54 AM

must be quick!

**Rissole** · 04-30-2003, 05:57 AM

Muuch'o' blood'o'....

**david** · 05-07-2003, 08:52 AM

People are funny!

**Burner02** · 05-07-2003, 07:00 PM

animals are funny too....
that talking chihuahua...I tell you cracks me up...

**david** · 05-07-2003, 10:50 PM

are you refering to the Taco Bell mascot??

**Burner02** · 05-07-2003, 11:48 PM

yeah!

"I theenk I'm gonna need a beeger boxx..."

**david** · 05-08-2003, 06:16 AM

yuck!

**Rissole** · 05-08-2003, 06:23 AM

We got a cool beer ad here:
A naked beauty seen walkin from the back into a spa, seductive music, soft and mellow scene. The music stops and this guy runs in from the side and does a bomb into the spa

SPLASH!! the chick gets decked with water!! He reaches over Pssst undoes his beer and just before takin a sip looks at her puzzled and says "What?" (you know, like what'd i do??)
Love it

**Burner02** · 05-08-2003, 10:03 PM

that sounds great!
You seen that canned salmon commercial where the guy fights a bear for his salmon?
I wish I could post it here...I have it saved to my hard drive...

Thread: Marketing Flops

Thread Tools

Display

Marketing Flops

Similar Threads

Are any of you into network marketing?

Does supplement marketing influence you?

Kerry sets new record for flip-flops! 14 in one speech

Best Marketing Ever

Internet Marketing

Posting Permissions