Anger and Support at “Chav Free” Holidays

A tour company has sparked controversy by sending out a marketing e-mail offering “chav-free” holidays. Activities Abroad ran “chavvy” names through its database to confirm none had ever been on one of its activity holidays. They discovered that no Britneys, Dazzas, Biancas, Chardonnays or Candices had ever been on one of their trips and proceeded to tell 24,000 people this via e-mail.

A wave of publicity and controversy followed after some customers were left offended. One woman argued, “How dare you define and typecast people by their name?”

However, Mr McLean, an employee of the company, advised “If you start going to various newspaper websites and the comment pages, we’re getting some absolutely fantastic feedback, an immense amount of support and it kind of looks like a lot of people agree with us as well“.

So, is all publicity good publicity?

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Slogan Translations Gone Wrong

Slogans are popular in achieving Brand Awareness and spreading knowledge of your product/service further afield. However, when moving into new regions, countries and cities…this can go terribly wrong.

• Coors, the beer producer, moved into the Spanish market and had it’s “Turn it loose” slogan translated…unfortunately it read “Suffer from diarrhea.”
• Clairol, the beauty products manufacturer, launched a their “Mist Stick” curling iron in Germany, only to find out that “mist” was slang for “manure.”
• Schweppes Tonic Water was launched in Italy with the translation “Schweppes Toilet Water“.
• China first rendered Coca-Cola as Ke-kou-ke-la. After thousands of signs were printed, Coca-Cola discovered the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken followed suit when their “finger-lickin good” slogan came out as “eat your fingers off.”

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