Top business translation blunders: Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave
In today’s globalised business culture, high quality translation services are now in constant demand. Translation services enable businesses to effectively position their products in foreign markets, taking cultural differences into consideration in order to maximise profits.
However, when running a campaign across multiple continents, there is always the possibility that a mistake may occur – and these can be extremely costly. Here are some of the most notorious translation blunders that have cost businesses dearly.
1 – Got Milk?
“Got Milk?” was a famous American advertising campaign which advocated the human consumption of cow’s milk, commissioned by the California dairy industry. It ran from 1994 to 2014 and greatly increased the sales of milk in America, particularly California. However, when the campaign was translated into Spanish in order to market to neighbouring Mexico, disaster ensued. Due to a mistake in translation, “Got Milk?” became “Are You Lactating?” – quite an extreme change in semantics!
2 – Pepsi
In the 1960s, Pepsi generated a new advertising slogan: “Come Alive, You’re In The Pepsi Generation”. The slogan was created as a response to the dominance of Coca Cola, which at the time was seen as the hip brand of fizzy drinks. While the slogan was immensely successful in transforming Pepsi’s brand image in America, quite the opposite occurred when the slogan was rolled out in China. The translation of “Come Alive, You’re In The Pepsi Generation” was interpreted by the Chinese as: “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Dead”. Clearly the theme of resurrection was not meant to be taken literally!
3 – KFC
Following Pepsi’s footsteps, KFC was also famous for making a huge translation blunder when marketing to the Chinese. Since the 1950s, KFC had been using the slogan “Finger lickin’ good” domestically, and by the time they sought to expand into Asia in the 1980s, they were a leading brand. Unfortunately, the literal interpretation of “Finger Lickin’ Good” in China was “Eat Your Fingers Off”.
Clearly not wanting to promote cannibalism in their Chinese establishments, KFC immediately fixed the blunder and went on to become the leading Western fast food enterprise in China. If they weren’t such a new brand in China, it’s likely that this mistake would have killed them off completely.
4 – Schweppes
Schweppes, a popular beverage brand known for its carbonated water and ginger ale, made a fatal mistake when marketing their leading tonic water product in Italy. Due to a mistranslation, “Schweppes Tonic Water” became “Schweppes Toilet Water”. Predictably, the Italians were less than excited about mixing their gin with toilet water, as Schweppes had advised them to do!
5 – Clairol
In America, popular hair products manufacturer Clairol released a product known as the “Mist Stick” – a curling iron that was extremely popular in the domestic market. Unfortunately, “Mist” translates as “Manure” in German, so when the “Manure Stick” was released in Germany, the product was an absolute failure. This proved to be an extremely costly mistake that could have been avoided with only a little research.
A small slip-up could mean a big error
If you’re marketing to foreign markets and want to avoid making the kinds of damaging mistakes that these businesses made, enlisting the help of reputable language service professionals is essential. At Linguagloss, we offer a range of bespoke translation solutions, from social media translation to conference calls. To see what we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to get in contact for a free consultation.