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· Pepsodent tried to market its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by claiming that it "whitens your teeth,” before learning that some locals chewed betel nuts to blacken their teeth, a sign of attractiveness in their culture.
·The Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux didn’t account for a common American colloquialism when marketing their vacuum in the U.S: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux".
·The soft drink Fresca was marketed under that name in Mexico … before the company discovered that ‘fresca’ is a slang term for lesbian in parts of Mexico.
· Pepsi used the slogan “Come Alive With Pepsi” in Taiwan … or so they thought. The slogan was actually translated as: "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead."
· The Coors slogan "Turn It Loose," was translated into Spanish as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
The following are the few Marketing blunders,
1) WPP's controversial Argentine Olympic ad
2) Hoover’s £20m free flight blunder
3) Vodafone lays claim to the Arab Spring
4) Habitat's inappropriate Twitter hashtags
5) John Cleese's shouty Sainsbury's TV ad
we can say .. Lost in Translation....!!!
HSBC Bank
HSBC Bank was forced to rebrand its entire global private banking operations after bringing a U.S. campaign overseas. In, the worldwide bank spent millions of dollars to scrap its5-year-old "Assume Nothing" campaign. Problems arose when the message was brought overseas, where it was translated in many countries as "Do Nothing." In the end, the bank spent $ million to change its tagline to "The world's private bank," which has a much more friendly translation.
KFC
While most businesses try to make a good impression while expanding into a foreign country, fried-chicken franchise KFC got off on the wrong foot when it opened in China in the lates. When the company opened its doors in Beijing, the restaurant had accidentally translated its infamous slogan "Finger-lickin' good" to a not-so-appetizing phrase: "Eat your fingers off." In the end, however, the blunder didn't end up hurting KFC too badly: It's theNo.1 quick-service restaurant brand in China today, with more than4, restaurants in more than cities.
Coors
American beer maker Coors discovered that slang doesn't always translate well. When bringing its cool "Turn It Loose" campaign to Spain, it appears executives forgot to ensure the translation would resonate with consumers. When translated into Spanish, the tagline used an expression that's commonly interpreted as "Suffer from diarrhea." While the campaign did make its mark on Spanish shoppers, it was for all the wrong reasons.
Electrolux
Not all translation blunders have been limited to U.S.-based companies. Swedish vacuum maker Electrolux got a quick lesson in English slang when it introduced its products in the states. Thinking it was highlighting its vacuum's high power, the Scandinavian company's ad campaign centered on the tagline "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux." While the slogan might have been grammatically correct, it never really took off with U.S. shoppers.
Ford
Auto giant Ford found that in Belgium, enticing customers with a dead body in every car isn't the best way to make a sale. Hoping to highlight the cars' excellent manufacturing, Ford launched an ad campaign in the European country that execs thought said "Every car has a high-quality body." However, when translated, the slogan read, "Every car has a high-quality corpse" — far from the image they were hoping to invoke.
Braniff Airlines
Braniff Airlines got in trouble in when it started hyping its new leather seats south of the border with the same campaign being used in the U.S.: "Fly in Leather." While the Spanish translation, "Vuela en Cuero," was appropriate throughout much of Latin America, it had different connotations in Mexico, where the expression also means "Fly naked." The promotion may have appealed to some flyers, but it was far from the message the airline was intending to send.
American Motors
It isn't always the messaging that gets marketers in trouble in international locations. Sometimes, it's the product name that gets lost in translation. When car manufacturer American Motors launched its new midsize car — the Matador — in the earlys in Puerto Rico, it quickly realized the name didn't have the intended meaning of courage and strength. In Spanish, matador is translated to "killer," which, in a place filled with hazardous roads, didn't instill a great deal of confidence in the drivers.
Pampers
Sometimes, companies run into problems overseas not just for what they say, but how they say it. When Proctor & Gamble started selling its Pampers diapers in Japan, it used an image of a stork delivering a baby on the packaging. While the advertising may have worked in the U.S., it never caught on with Japanese moms and dads. After some research, the company figured out that customers were concerned and confused by the image of a stork on the packaging, since the stories of storks bringing babies to parents isn't a part of Japanese folklore. There, the story goes that giant floating peaches bring babies to their parents.
I am agree with your answer my colleague’s Mr Mohammed Ashraf you gives us good answers
agree with the answer to Mr. Mohammed Ashraf
Thanks for the Invite.
Good question Mr Mohammed, Let me add some.
1. Braniff International translated a slogan touting its finely upholstered seats "Fly in Leather" into Spanish as "Fly Naked."2. Clairol launched a curling iron called "Mist Stick" in Germany even though "mist" is German slang for manure.
3. KFC made Chinese consumers a bit apprehensive when "finger licking good" was translated as "eat your fingers off."4. Mercedes-Benz entered the Chinese market under the brand name "Bensi," which means "rush to die."5. Nike had to recall thousands of products when a decoration intended to resemble fire on the back of the shoes resembled the Arabic word for Allah.
Thanks for invitation very nice answers.
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i agree with experts answers