netjeff.com Humor collection Poorly Translated Slogans

     From "American Demographics" magazine:
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     Here's a look at how shrewd American business people translate their
     slogans into foreign languages:

     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 is 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 introduced 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 English weren't too fond of the name either, as it's
     a highly derogatory term for a non-heterosexual.

     The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries.  "No va"
     means "it doesn't 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 form 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."

     A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a
     curling iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for
     manure.  Not too many people had use for the manure stick.

     When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the
     same packaging as here in the U.S.A. - with the cute baby on the
     label.  Later they found out that in Africa companies routinely put
     pictures on the label of what's inside since most people can't read.

netjeff.com Humor collection Poorly Translated Slogans