Branding Gone Wrong

[The Copy Nazi]

I've been working on a gig for some Swedish guys and found a reference to some branding that was less than stellar - for the Swedish company Electrolux.

Their advertising slogan in the Sixties was -

"Nothing sucks like an Electrolux"

Brilliant eh?

Here's some more. Lifted from Wikipedia -

• Lancia Dedra: this car sold poorly outside Italy, particularly in English-speaking markets, where research showed that people associated it with danger (apparently affected by the name's similarity to the word "dead")
• Honda : In 2001, Honda intended to release an automobile known as the Fit in Asian markets as the Honda Fitta on the European market. However, in Swedish and Norwegian, fitta is a crude reference to female genitalia, and the vehicle was rebranded Honda Jazz.
• McDonald's : In January 2005, McDonald's published banners proclaiming Double cheeseburger? I'd Hit It. In this obvious blunder, the copywriters mistook the strictly sexual slang expression for a term of general approval.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken: An advertising campaign in China attempting to translate the slogan Finger lickin' good! into Chinese failed miserably, proclaiming Eat your fingers off.
• Mitsubishi Pajero: The company noticed too late that pajero means wanker in Spanish and renamed the car later to Montero.

• Pepsi: Pepsi allegedly introduced their slogan into the Chinese market "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into Chinese it read "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave".
• Coca-Cola: The name Coca-Cola rendered phonetically in Chinese can sound like the words for "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax". Before marketing in China, the company found a close phonetic equivalent, kekou kele (pinyin romanization), which roughly means "let your mouth rejoice". It was never marketed by the company using the other phrases, though individual merchants may have made such signs.In actuality, "bite the wax tadpole" in Mandarin Chinese is "Kēdǒu kěn là."
• An urban legend holds that the Chevrolet Nova automobile sold poorly in Latin America, as "no va" means "won't go" in Spanish. In truth, the car sold well.

avagoodweekend campers. I'm heading to the bush in my Mitsubishi Wanker.

Mal

[Mark Andrews]

Wasn't that later to become the Mitsubishi Pajero?

Seen quite a few of those before. Thanks for bringing them to our attention again.

Talking of going away, the sun is shining here, I think I might just do the same, jump in the motorhome and head off for a night or two.

Have a good weekend Mal.

Cheers!


Pete

PS Hang on a minute...

Edit: Head #2 just clicked. You bloody rotter you.

[The Copy Nazi]

@ Crossdressing Pete

Re: Honda Jazz

Jazz is said to be a variation of the word "jism," because it was originally performed by horn players to entertain johns in the whorehouses of Storyville, the notorious red-light district of New Orleans. It was what was playing downstairs when one lost that last shred of innocence. Trombonist Clay Smith was rumored to have said, "If the truth were known about the origin of the word 'jazz,' it would never be mentioned in polite company.

Hmmm - "Honda Sex" - now there's a name to move a million units.

[The Copy Nazi]

...or even "Honda Hard Sex"

[Cam Connor]

Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi

• McDonald's : In January 2005, McDonald's published banners proclaiming Double cheeseburger? I'd Hit It. In this obvious blunder, the copywriters mistook the strictly sexual slang expression for a term of general approval.

• Pepsi: Pepsi allegedly introduced their slogan into the Chinese market "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into Chinese it read "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave".

These 2 cracked me up, I actually remember seeing the "I'd Hit It" banner, and thinking, uhh, what?

[MissLauraCatella]

I'd absolutely use "I'd hit it" in reference to a double cheeseburger.

[yecall]

I got a good laugh out of this. This does remind us to be careful of our words and most importantly, the construction that others will place upon our words. This is a really funny post.