Sharwoods
MediaGuardian.co.uk reports: Sharwoods £6m campaign to launch its new undh sauces received calls immediately from numerous Punjabi speakers.  bundh" sounds like the Punjai word for "arse".
Sharwoods has no intention of changing it. "We hope that once they nderstand the derivation of the Bundh sauce range and taste the delicious eals they can produce, they will agree that it is miles apart from the punjabi word that is similar but spelled and pronounced differently (with a ong "u")."

Chevy Nova
When General Motors introduced the Chevrolet (aka Chevy) Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go". After he company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC
Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off."

Milk
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?"

Parker Pen, Parker Quink Ink
When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you."  However, the Spanish word "embarazar" was used by mistake to mean embarrass. The ads actually said: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

Powergenitalia, www.powergenitalia.com
No, Powergenitalia is not the company responsible for all that spam offering to help you with organ extensions or to invigorate you with Viagara- powered vitality. It is also not the Italian division of energy giant Powergen.
When numerous English-speakers on the web took note of the web site www.powergenitalia.com, Powergen felt obligated to announce that they had no connection with the site and in fact had no Italian offices, so that people would not think that it was their Translation Marketing Mistake.
No, they left that distinctive honor to the marketing folks at Powergen Italia, an Italian maker of battery chargers. Perhaps they were shocked to learn its a World Wide Web. The website now switches you over to the more aptly named for English-speakers, http://www.batterychargerpowergen.it.

Nike
Nike has a television commercial for hiking shoes that was shot in Kenya using Samburu tribesmen. The camera closes in on the one tribesman who speaks, in native Maa. As he speaks, the Nike slogan "Just do it" appears on the screen. Lee Cronk, an anthropologist at the University of Cincinnati, says the Kenyan is really saying, "I don't want these. Give me big shoes."  Says Nike's Elizabeth Dolan, "We thought nobody in America would know what he said."

Gerber Baby Food
When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label.  Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read.
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