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.”