What’s in a Name? Famous Marketing Translation Blunders

What’s in a Name? Famous Marketing Translation Blunders

If you are considering marketing your product internationally, there are a lot of things you must consider when naming your products or creating your slogans. It may surprise you to learn that some major companies have had some huge product failures because they didn’t do their research. Remember the Chevy Nova? That didn’t do so well in Mexico due to the name meaning: No Go. Once they realized this, they renamed the car the Caribe.

Here are some other famous blunders:

Schweppes Tonic Water translates in Italian to “Schweppes Toilet Water”

Coors’ Slogan “Turn it Loose” translates in Spanish to “Suffer from Diarrhea”

Pepsi’s Slogan “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation” translates in Chinese to “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave”

KFC’s Slogan “Finger Licking Good” translates in Chinese as “Eat Your Fingers Off”

Clairol’s “Mist Stick” curling iron translates in German to “Manure Stick”

The Dairy Association’s “Got Milk” ad translates in Spanish to “Are You Lactating”

It’s not just Americans who make these blunders. Scandinavian manufacturer of Electrolux created the campaign: Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux.

It has been said that Gerber may have made one of the biggest blunders, however, when they put a picture of a baby on their jars of baby food. In Africa, it is common for them to put a picture on the label of what is actually in the product. This has since been considered a myth.

Additional Resources:

Product Placement:  Is it Shameless or Just Good Business

How to Market Your Product Using Social Media

50 Famous People Who Failed Before Becoming a Success

Stephen Hawking’s IQ – How Yours Compares to His and Other Famous Persons’ IQ

There is a lot of talk recently about Stephen Hawking since his recent comment about God and the creation of the universe and the release of his upcoming book.   This has led to many searching for information on Hawking.  Interestingly his IQ is reported around 160.  Hawking claimed, “people who boast about their IQs are losers”.  In our book about understanding personalities and intelligence, my daughter, Toni Rothpletz, and I wrote about the importance of IQ and EQ (emotional quotient or measure of emotional intelligence).  Many organizations now are putting more of a focus on hiring those with a high EQ.  However, it may be fun to see how your IQ compares to some famous people in history.  The following chart is from aceviper.net: