Here is a a link a website that lists a variety of anecdotes in which an advertisement didn't quite translate into another language or culture.
Enjoy.http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/335ARTIC/CULTCOMM.HTM
Which one was your favorite? Why?
Do you have any to add? If so, tell us about it here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is my favourite one:
ReplyDeleteNike made a television ad promoting it's shoes, with people from different countries saying "Just do it" in their native language. Too late they found out that a Samburu African tribesman was really saying, "I don't want these, give me big shoes."
I think it's very funny that he said this and made a very big joke about Nike. And it was very stupid of Nike not to check what everyone had to say in their languages.
Managers at one American company were startled when they discovered that the brand name of the cooking oil they were marketing in a Latin American country translated into Spanish as "Jackass Oil."
ReplyDeleteloooool this one is realy funny .. I don't have any add .. jackass is good enough
This is my favourite anecdote :
ReplyDeleteWhen Pepsico advertised Pepsi in Taiwan with the ad "Come Alive With Pepsi" they had no idea that it would be translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead."
I think it's ridiculous, because Pepsi is a big company with lots of advertising around the world and they wouldn't check the meaning of their advertising in the other languages. Their own advertising is turning against them. It's funny. In fact, after, I imagined Taiwanese people trying to bring their ancestors back while they are drinking pepsi.
I think that the funniest one is the NIKE TV spot. The company used the slogan: "just do it." in some different languages. An african tribesman said: "I don't want these, give me big shoes!"
ReplyDeleteit means thath the man make fun of Nike, a very big company!!
My favorite is the one about Pepsi. When Pepsi advertised it in Taiwan, catch copy was "Come Alive With Pepsi." But this was translated into Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead." It's really funny because things like this happen so many times when we do business with China. I heard proffesional isn't always proffesional in that country. I guess the interpreter didn't get the meaning of "come alive" when even I did! It's unbelievable to think that world famous Pepsi coudn't hire enough well interpreter.
ReplyDeleteIf I add something to this article, I would like to write about the silly movie "Lost in tlanslation." In that movie Japan is described so strange and untrue. The way Japanese people act is so weird and they are always taking bow without any reason. Company send prostitute to customers and that prostitute couldn't pronounce 'L' at all.