Marketing Mess Ups

This week’s marketing tip is more of a fanciful example of how you always need to consider your audience, particularly on the Internet. If you are trying to attract an international audience to your web site and have incorporated one of those handy translation tools, you might want to read below and take heed!

NOTE: These are only a few of the fun ones of the bunch. If you’re interested in the whole list, you can request one by emailing webmaster@webadvantage.net.

When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the U.S., with the beautiful baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since most people can’t read English.

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.”

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

In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger-lickin’ good” came out as “eat your fingers off.”

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