10 Funniest Badly-Translated Ads
When it comes to advertising, we've come a long way, baby.
All of these marketing slogans and brand names were perfectly fine...
In English.
However, once they were translated into other languages they took on
hilarious new meanings!
KFC
When American fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken opened their
first restaurant in Beijing in 1987, they accidentally translated
KFC's famous slogan, "Finger-lickin' good" to "We'll Eat Your Fingers
Off!" in Chinese.
Coors
U.S. Beer-making giant Coors apparently thought their slogan, "Turn it
loose!" would translate to Spanish just fine.
Unfortunately, "Turn it Loose" came out, "Suffer from Diarrhea" instead.
Frankly, if you've ever had Coors...
This slogan isn't too far off the mark.
Clairol
In 2006, hair care company Clairol introduced a curling iron called
the Mist Stick, which did very well in U.S. Markets.
When the company marketed the product in Germany, however, they failed
to realize that "mist" means "manure" in German.
Oddly enough, the "Manure Stick" didn't sell so well in Germany.
Milk
The American Dairy Association was so successful with its "Got Milk?"
campaign, that they decided to extend the ads to Mexico.
Unfortunately, the Spanish translation is "Are you lactating?"
Kind of a personal question, we think!
Pepsi
Pepsi's slogan "We bring you back to life" caused a bit of panic in
China, where they
Read it as, "We bring your ancestors back from the grave."
Puffs
Puffs brand tissues are quite popular in the U.S. A., however, their
quest for global marketing ran into a few snags due to their name.
In Germany, "Puff" is a colloquial term for a whorehouse.
In England, "Puff" is an offensive term for homosexual.
Ford Pinto
The Ford Motor Company introduced the subcompact Pinto in 1971.
The company couldn't understand why they weren't selling more cars in
Brazil, until they
Learned that "Pinto" is Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals."
Braniff Airlines
In 1977 Braniff Airlines only meant to advertise the leather seats
they'd installed in First Class, their slogan, "Fly in leather"
translated for Spanish-speaking markets as, "Vuela en cuero," which
means "Fly naked."
Let's hope they at least bring a towel to sit on!
Parker Pens
When Parker Pen's famous slogan "It won't leak in your pocket and
embarrass you" was translated into Spanish, it confused many Mexican
consumers who read it as,
"It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke- la,"
meaning"Bite the wax tadpole" or the equally hilarious, "female horse
stuffed with wax," depending on the dialect.
Coke then researched to find a phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko- Le,"
translating into "happiness in the mouth."