Slogans

Behold a list of slogans that didn't translate well into other languages. I'm not sure how true any of these are, but they're funny anyway. My favorite is the one about the Gerber Baby food (even though I know it's fake) because it reminds me of an adventure I had one day while working at Costco (if I call it an 'adventure', it makes me feel better about having worked there for so long).

As most of you know, Costco sends out coupons a couple times a year (the 'Passport' and 'Wallet' things, plus occasional other limited coupon offerings).

Well, one year, included in the coupon book was a coupon for some sort of dog jerky--the name "Yappy" springs to mind, but I have no idea. It was in a tall tub and had a picture of a cartoonish dog on the front. There was a picture of the product on the coupon with the caption "Yappy's Dog Jerky" or whatever it was.

Anyway, about an hour into my shift, as I'm collecting boxes near the registers (by the snack foods), a man asks me where the dog jerky is. Well, he doesn't speak english well, so he points to the coupon and I tell him that it's back on the aisle with the pet beds at the end. He gives me a funny look, smiles, and walks off.

An hour or two later I returned to the snack food area and a lady asks me the same question. I explain to her that it's near the pet food in the back of the store. She gets a weird look on her face, laughs and walks off in the opposite direction.

By now I'm pretty consufed, so I go back to make sure there's still plenty of dog jerky out on the floor and that it's easily accessible.

Toward the end of my shift, the pieces all came together. While I was straightening the beef jerky near the register, another man asks where he can find the dog jerky. As I'm explaining that it's near the dog food I realize that he has been looking for it in the snack food section, along with the others who had asked the question.

Then I remembered that every one of them was asian and probably had no problems eating dog. And, really, if you're going to eat dog, you might as well make jerky out of it; you'd only get enough meat for a steak from the biggest dogs.

Since that day, I've wondered what would have happened if I had "accidentally" left a pallet of dog jerky up near the front of the store...

And, if you're not bored out of your mind yet (I know the punchline was painfully obvious from the beginning; thanks for humoring me), here's the list:

1. 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."

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

3. 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."

4. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

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

6.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.

7. 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.

8. 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).

9. 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?"

10. 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 "kokoukole", translating into "Happiness in the Mouth."