{"id":1611,"date":"2013-11-14T14:43:37","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T14:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=1611"},"modified":"2013-11-14T14:43:59","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T14:43:59","slug":"badvertisements-marketing-faux-pas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/badvertisements-marketing-faux-pas\/","title":{"rendered":"Badvertisements: Marketing Faux Pas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"marketing\"<\/a>These days marketing is everywhere, it\u2019s unavoidable, and we are being manipulated by subliminal tricks and product placements on a daily basis. But this growing epidemic is being met with disdain \u2013 which is why it\u2019s so satisfying to find some examples where marketing has backfired on the marketers themselves!<\/p>\n

As demonstrated in our recent blog<\/a> on how easy it is for foreign words and phrases to get lost in translation, the issue applies to marketing campaigns that don\u2019t have the same intended meaning in other countries \u2013 often with humorous consequences. Here are a few censored examples:<\/p>\n

Parker Pens Need A Pregnant Pause?<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the earliest reported translation errors belongs to the innocent Parker Pen. In 1935, its U.S. ad campaign was simply \"Avoid embarrassment, use Parker Pens<\/i>\", which was tweaked slightly for the South American debut to \"It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you<\/i>\". Unfortunately, the company mistakenly used the spanish word \"embarazar\" to mean embarrass, but it actually meant to impregnate, so this was literally translated as \"It won\u2019t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant<\/i>\".<\/p>\n

\"marketing3\"<\/a>Car Problems<\/b><\/p>\n

Still in South America, General Motors couldn\u2019t work out why their recently launched Chevy Nova wasn\u2019t selling, until they realised that \"no va<\/i>\" means \"it won't go<\/i>\"!<\/p>\n

Similarly, Ford had issues selling the Pinto in Brazil, until they found out that the word Pinto was slang for \"tiny male genitals<\/i>\".<\/p>\n

A Mist Opportunity! <\/b><\/p>\n

The English word \u201cmist<\/i>\u201d is translated as \u201cmanure<\/i>\u201d in German, which was something Clairol overlooked when they introduced their \u2018Mist Stick Curling Iron\u2019 product to Deutschland. Similarly, Rolls Royce quickly rebranded the Silver Mist to the Silver Shadow, and Irish Mist had to rethink how to promote their whiskey liqueur.<\/p>\n

Sex Sells?<\/b><\/p>\n

The owners of Japanese tourist agency, Kinki Nippon Tourist Company, quickly changed its name in English speaking countries when they started getting unsolicited requests for salacious experiences!<\/p>\n

Colgate got more attention than they wanted when they introduced a toothpaste to France called Cue, the name of a popular porn magazine.<\/p>\n

But Hunt-Wesson didn\u2019t mind when sales weren\u2019t affected after introducing their Big John products to French Canada as Gros Jos \u2013 slang for \"big breasts.\"<\/p>\n

\"marketing2\"<\/a>YIKEA<\/b><\/p>\n

Swedish furniture giant\u00a0IKEA\u00a0had a \u2018yikes\u2019 moment when they failed to corner the children\u2019s mobile workbench market with the product name \u201cFartfull<\/i>\u201d, which means \u201cspeedy<\/i>\u201d in Sweden, but has quite a different meaning in English.<\/p>\n

When Good Campaigns Go Really Bad!<\/b><\/p>\n

The popular Pepsi slogan \"Come alive with the Pepsi Generation<\/i>\" instilled fear into the Taiwanese when it was translated as \"Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead<\/i>\", Schweppes weren\u2019t best pleased when their tonic water was translated as toilet water for an Italian campaign, and KFC bit off more than they could chew when their slogan \"finger-lickin' good<\/i>\" read as \"eat your fingers off<\/i>\" in Chinese.<\/p>\n

So, there we have it, a bit of fun at the marketers\u2019 expense, and I bet they were expensive blunders too! Do you have any stories of marketing fails?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These days marketing is everywhere, it\u2019s unavoidable, and we are being manipulated by subliminal tricks and product placements on a daily basis. But this growing epidemic is being met with disdain \u2013 which is why it\u2019s so satisfying to find some examples where marketing has backfired on the marketers themselves! As demonstrated in our recent(\u2026)<\/p>\n

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\n\t \t\t\t\tCONTINUE READING »<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,27],"tags":[216,66,214,215,32],"class_list":["post-1611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everyday-language","category-humour-offbeat","tag-advertising","tag-language","tag-marketing","tag-marketing-mistakes","tag-mistakes"],"yoast_head":"\nBadvertisements: Marketing Faux Pas - Listen & Learn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/badvertisements-marketing-faux-pas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Badvertisements: Marketing Faux Pas - Listen & Learn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These days marketing is everywhere, it\u2019s unavoidable, and we are being manipulated by subliminal tricks and product placements on a daily basis. 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