Recently I noticed that there is a brand of Fridge Freezer called a SMEG. Now I somehow think that someone made a boo boo here given the connotations of that word in the UK. Wonder how sales will turn out?

Then there is the new Tampax tampon called a COMPAK. How COMPAQ let that one go I will never know, although sometimes their computers are a right XXXX to work with. :)

Reminds me of the story about Rolls Royce naming a new car many years ago. RR cars are usually called Silver XXXXX and this time they wished to name it "Silver Mist" until someone pointed out that Mist means sh*t in German and would adversely affect sales in that country.

Has anyone else got similar bad examples?

Sent to me by a friend an 'allegedly' true....

Mislabels Marketing Mess Ups

Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer from diarrhea."

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

When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read English.

The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, "ko-kou-ko-le," which can be loosely translated as "Happiness in the mouth."

In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead."

Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off."

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem – Feeling Free," got translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."

Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Punto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato."

Chicken-man Frank Perdue's slogan, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," got terribly mangled in another Spanish translation. A photo of Perdue with one of his birds appeared on billboards all over Mexico with a caption that explained "It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused."

Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts." In this case, however, the name problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.

Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno mag.

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.

But why did they have to change the name of "Marathon" to "Snickers"?????

Marathon would have been much better in the long run -- long run, geddit? :)

Back in the 1970's there was vacuum cleaner in the UK called the 'Goblin Housemaid'. What's more, the TV ad said 'everyone can afford a Goblin housemaid!'

A story ( not sure if it is true or not ) about Cona the coffee maker having sponsored a rally car in a Portugese rally and beeing required to cover up the offensive name.

<a href="http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.htm" target="_blank">http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.htm</a>

The Snickers bar came before the Marathon.
Named after the inventors horse (Snickers).
Still tastes the same.

I speak a little Portuguese - not sure that Cona is a bad word?

I understand that President Bush couldn't be referred to as such in Iran, as Bush means Dick. A little paradox there?

I heard they origionally named it after his first horse " glue ", but had to change it since there was already another product of the same name.

Apparently Virgin are changing their name to Whore!!

Why? i hear you ask


COZ Richard Branson keeps getting fu***d over!!!!
<img src="eek.gif" border="0"> <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

I vaguely recall Toyota having to change the name of the MR2 to MR in France because if you say MR2 in French you get dangerously close to "merde".

There's a large chain of Sports shops here in France called: "The Athlete's Foot" !!

Just done a bit of digging, and it turns out to be an American chain. - What were you guys thinking ??!!

There is also a Shoe Shop called "Our Soles" in the South East. A deliberate name I think!

[ 08 January 2002: Message edited by: DROGNA ]</p>

who else has read ben elton's book gridlock and the name they came up with for the car.
made me laugh :)

There is/was a Bistro in Castle Donington set up by an ex-crew member that was christened the "Far Call"! This was second choice as the local authorities rejected the originally mooted "A Pant in the Country".
Rather nicely judged, I think.

[ 08 January 2002: Message edited by: boris ]</p>

Why did they rename Jif to Cif? The latter sounds like a disease.

do you mean jif the cleaner or jif the peanut butter? <img src="cool.gif" border="0">
best not to get them confused <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

Just slightly off topic: The New Zealand Police have a unit called the Fatal Accident Response Team.

Great acronym! :)

4711 - continuing your theme.

A few years ago all the polytechnics were reclassified as universities and had to find new names.

The story goes that Newcastle Poly got to the printing stage with the brochures for its new identity - City University of Newcastle on Tyne.

Can't be true can it? Will I be banned now?

In the late '70's there was a electronics company advertising with the name 'Wayne Kerr'. Unbelievably true. Wouldn't have thought it could still exist.

Always thought 'Wimpy' was a pretty poor choice too.

Commodore had problems with their "Pet" computer when they tried to launch it in France (Pet is French for Fart) <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

Rumour has it that ASWE (the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishent) on top of Portsdown Hill (overlooking Portsmouth UK) did a name change some years ago to the Admiralty Research and Signals Establishment, and got to the sign printing stage before setting on just A.R.E. It's called something completely different now, I believe.

During a holiday on Britain's waterways, many moons ago, I saw a longboat called "Far Canal", which I thought was very clever. If I had one, I would call it "Norfolk and Good" or "Suffolk and What"

[ 08 January 2002: Message edited by: sanjosebaz ]

[ 10 January 2002: Message edited by: sanjosebaz ]</p>

<a href="http://rampages.onramp.net/~stooge/" target="_blank">http://rampages.onramp.net/~stooge/</a>

An useful source for dirty words , gives Cona as a part of the female anatomy . Can any portugese speakers confirm or otherwise. Wont be the first time there is innaccurate info LOL.

There was a serious proposal to set up Plessey Electronics and Network Information Systems Ltd. - before someone realised.

After GEC got Plessey, Plessey Telecommunications became GEC-Plessey Telecommunications, or GPT. Pronounced in French 'jay pay tay', as near as I can get to it in writing. Which, as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, means 'I have farted'. They very quickly became 'GP Telecom' in France.

There was a burger shop in Mandurah WA, a touristy town south of Perth, called "The Mad Cow". I don't think it's there anymore.

Our company had "Fall Annual Recurrent Training" 'till they realised it. Similarly, the RCAF Training Command had a "School of Higher Instructional Technique" course.

aerostar2

True about the name, although there is a doubt about the brochures. Popular rumour amongst the lecturers (including yours truly at the time) was that some unsung hero had to point out to the directorate why the name was not a good idea. Official line for rejecting the name was an objection by another City University <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> . Yeah right, we were convinced.

[ 10 January 2002: Message edited by: Evening Star ]</p>

Ford named two cars after adult w@<hidden> mags - Fiesta & Escort.

VW never understood the hilarity from UK journalists when they unveiled their MPV - called 'Sharon'

There's an urban tank in Oz known as the Mitsubish Pajero which supposedly translates from Spanish as w@<hidden>. The same car is known as the Shogun/Montero in EU/US.

[ 10 January 2002: Message edited by: 375ml ]</p>

375ml
Don't know Spanish myself, but had been led to believe Pajero was Spanish for Roadrunner....

Yeah I was in fact wondering if Pajero/wan.. was an urban myth ? Most machine translations don't do anything with it.

Oh, yes they are alive and well:

<a href="http://www.waynekerrtest.com/" target="_blank">Wayne Kerr</a>

Many's the time I've used a Wayne Kerr bridge - with great difficulty in keeping a straight face.

Here are a few hits and misses, thanks to Red Green.

Good - So So
Mercury Sable - Mercury Animal Pelt
Volkswagen Scirocco - Volkswagen Hot Air
Acura Legend - Acura Bullroar
Ford Pinto - Ford Clydesdale
Dodge Viper - Dodge Rattler
Chevy Malibu - Chevy Cleveland
Oldsmobile Lumina - Oldsmobile Enema
Chevy Citation - Chevy Parking Ticket
Lincoln - Clinton
Ford Tempo - Ford Beat
Pontiac Sundance - Pontiac Slamdance
Ford Probe - Ford Rectal Thermometer

[ 12 January 2002: Message edited by: pigboat ]</p>

I think we've missed the Vauxhall Nova (Spanish = doesn't go), and I remember some lemonade in France (many years ago) called Sic, and a beer called Pschitt... <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

The <a href="http://www.snopes2.com/business/misxlate/nova.htm" target="_blank">Nova</a> myth was outlined by Mycroft on page 1 of this thread.

[ 12 January 2002: Message edited by: sanjosebaz ]</p>