> GREAT MARKETING SCREW-UPS
>
>  1. Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was
>read as "Suffer from diarrhea".
>
> 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 German
only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use
>for the "manure stick".
>
> 4. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same
>packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian 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.
>
> 5. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a
>notorious porno magazine.
>
> 6. 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).
>
> 7. Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into
"Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave", in Chinese.
>
> 8. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to make a =
tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make
=a chicken affectionate".
>
> 9. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la",
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 "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth".
>
> 10. When Parker Brothers marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads =
were supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you".
>Instead, 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".
>
> 11. The Dairy folks who came up with the "Got Milk" slogan translated
it into Spanish where it became, "Are You Lactating?"