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 death."
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.
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 wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
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.
Scandinavian
vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following slogan in an American ad campaign: "Nothing sucks like an
Electrolux."