Cracking an international market is a goal of most growing
corporations.  It shouldn't be that hard, yet even the big
multi-nationals run into trouble because of language and cultural
differences.  These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award.  This
is given out in honor of the GM's fiasco in trying to market this car
in Central and South America.  "no va" means, of course, in Spanish,
"it doesn't go".

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

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."

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 Pinto 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's mistakenly thought the spanish word "embarazar"
meant embarrass.  Instead the ads said that "It wont 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 affectionate."

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.

The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?"
prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico.  It was soon brought to
their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"

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 Germany
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 smiling baby on the label.
Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on
the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.

An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the
Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit.  Instead of "I Saw the
Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).

Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into
"Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela",
meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax",
depending on the dialect.  Coke then researched 40,000 characters to
find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness
in the mouth."

When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads
were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass
you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate)
meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and
make you pregnant!"

When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather
first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In
Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero)
in Spanish.