Hi all, Warning -- off topic. These must be true since I heard them on Paul Harvey News: > These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award. > This is given out in honor of the GM's fiasco in trying > to market this car in Central and South America. "No va" > means, of course, in Spanish, "it doesn't go". > > 1. 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?" > > 2. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where > it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea." > > 3. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following > in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux." > > 4. 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." > > 5. 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. > > 6. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the > name of a notorious porno magazine. > > 7. 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). > > 8. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated > into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in > Chinese. > > 9. 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 "kokou kole", > translating into "happiness in the mouth." > > 10. 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." > > 11. 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!" > > 12. 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!