The first episode of "Joanie Loves Chachi" was the highest rated American program in the history of Korean television. Why? Probably because "chachi" is Korean for "penis".

In Seoul, South Korea, the government received so many complaints about taxi drivers that it had to set up a telephone hotline for passenger who encountered rudeness or dangerous driving. To advise customers of this service, a sign was posted on the inside rear door notifying English-speaking passengers of the availability of an "Intercourse Discomfort Report Center".

When Braniff Airlines 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 it 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".

When a deodorant called Mum was advertised in Finland, the Finnish phrase for "Put Mum in your armpit" had also the meaning of "Fuck your grannie up the armpit"

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 Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "Nova" means "It does not 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 from the Grave".

Then, when Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product Ke-kou-ke-la, when pronounced, sounded like "Coca-Cola". The only problem was that the characters used meant "Bite The Wax Tadpole" or "Female Horse Stuffed With Wax". They later changed to Ko-kou-ko-le that loosely translated means "Happiness In The Mouth".

A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, to 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 USA - with the cute baby on the label. Later, they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what actually is inside the container, since most people can not read.

MENSA, the organization for the extremely intelligent (and from time to time, the extremely arrogant) is the Spanish word for stupid (gender female)

Bacardi concocted a fruity drink with the name "Pavian" to suggest French chic... but "Pavian" means "baboon" in German.

Jolly Green Giant translated into Arabic means "Intimidating Green Ogre".

In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "Finger-Lickin' Good" came out as "Eat your fingers off".

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" (el Papa) in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).

Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos, therefore, 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.

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

In an effort to boost orange juice sales in predominantly continental breakfast eating England, a campaign was devised to extol the drink's eye-opening, pick-me-up qualities. Hence, the slogan, "Orange juice. It gets your pecker up".

The Ford Pinto is not one of the most highly regarded of cars in the auto industry. Things got even worse when Ford found out why the Pinto wasn't selling so well in Brazil. Translated in Brazil "Pinto" is a slang term meaning "under-endowed male". Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel (=Horse). Ford Motor Company's Caliente turned out to mean "streetwalker" in Mexico. Ford Cortina's name translated as "jalopy". Ford even discovered that a truck model it called Fiera means "ugly old woman" in Spanish.

Kellogg's Bran Buds translates loosely into Swedish as "burnt farmer". Definately part of a complete breakfast!

The original ad slogan that the Swedes packaged for their Electrolux vacuum cleaner was "Nothing Sucks Like Electrolux!"

Muslims in Bangladesh rioted and ransacked Thom McAnn stores when they mistook company's logo on some sandals for the Arabic letters for Allah. One person was killed and 50 people were injured before the melee ended.

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."

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."

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

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.


kelekoMay 22, 2006 @ 19:27