I can definitely verify the German ones!!! Very accurate.
haha!
Dan
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From: Rick Feibusch
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 1997 12:32 AM
To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Was Car Names/ Now Other Corperate Naming Problems
Dear Listers -
Here is a look at how shrewd American business people translate their
slogans into foreign languages. The process could use some Process
Improvement...
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When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery,
"Fly in Leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly Naked."
Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where
it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man
to make a tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in
Spanish: "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a
chicken affectionate."
When Vicks first introduce its cough drops on the German
market, they were chagrined to learn that the German
pronunciation of "v" is "f," which in German is the guttural
equivalent of "sexual penetration."
Not to be outdone, Puffs tissues tried later to introduce
its product, only to learn that "Puff" in German is a
colloquial term for a whorehouse.
The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking
countries. "No Va" means "It Does Not Go" in Spanish.
When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few
years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You
Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really
meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."
When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the
product something that when pronounced sounded like
"Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used
meant "Bite The Wax Tadpole." They later changed to a set of
characters that mean "Happiness In The Mouth."
When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they
used the same packaging as here in the USA--with the cute
baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa
companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is
inside since most people can not read.
Can any of our non-American listers verify these for us?
See you on the Funway! Rick Feibusch - Venice, CA
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