Daily Lemon: Advertising bloopers, The Tesla Shield scam, Hotels with worst wi-fi service

< Previous | Home | Next >

Advertising bloopers.
Those over-paid and under-worked ad exec's doesn't always get it right the first time. 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".

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?"

Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for garbage. Not too many people had use for the "Garbage Stick."

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.

Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

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).

Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

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."

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."

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!"

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.

These rather funny and, to the people involved, embarrassing little snippets come from the Strange Places website. Go and find som more fun stuff. From our own files we can add a Swedish/English moment of embarrassment:

When a Swedish manufacturer of a folding shower seat wanted to expand their sales to the U.S., they decided to keep the name of the product - Clap. (in Swedish "klapp" in connection with a chair or seat means it's foldable). Thus astonished New Yorkers found themselves facing ads encouraging them to get their Swedish clap in the shower.

31-3-2006

The Tesla Shield. Scam or... ?
Let me come clean right from the start. I don't for one second believe the yada-yada that is used to sell this thing. From the site:

"The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ outer shell is made of aluminium, which is first anodised (electrolytic oxidation) and then colored. The spin of the atoms and electrons of the aluminium is thus changed in such a way, that The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ is said to vibrate in resonance with the fundamental energy (Chi, Prana, Orgon) of the universe. The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ coating was developed by Ralph Bergstresser after a patent and from the knowledge / information and ideas of Nikola Tesla, with whom he worked in the 1940s. With anodising, the field of the plating is changed and interacts with tachyons. The surface of the plating has a unique crystal-structure."

Yeah, right. There's also a pretty interesting disclaimer (scroll down after you hit the page):

"None of the statements in this or any other pages at this website should be construed as claims or representation that this or any of the products or services from Life Technology™ are offered for the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation, cure or prevention of any disease. Our products and services have not been evaluated by the FDA. The information contained within the pages of this website is for educational purposes only. Nothing set forth herein is intended to be medical advice or able to be construed as such. This discussion is private in its entirety and non-negotiable between the parties. Anyone acting on any of the contents herein does so solely on the basis of her or his own volition and at his or her own risk. Everyone has the duty and absolute right to think, evaluate, research, learn, and act autonomously. It would appear prudent for anyone to refrain from adopting any course of action without first understanding the basis and reasons thereof, including seeking the advice of trained, licensed professionals."

Should you have been taken in by the blurb above, you need to spend USD 89:95 to be the proud owner of one. Via Gadgetizer.

30-3-2006

Hotels with the worst wi-fi service.
This is just the thing we're looking for. A chance to warn our readers to stay away from sloppy service. The hotel review site Hotel Chatter has presented a list of the hotels with the worst and the best wi-fi service. Check it before you book, but remember, things move fast in the wi-fi world, so this years worst may well be next years best. Good luck! Via Gizmodo.

28-3-2006

< Previous | Home | Next >

Custom Search

These pages may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Daily Lemon is making this material available in an effort to advance the understanding of the workings, impact and direction of various global and national issues. We believe that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. The opinions expressed on this website are entirely our own, and by reading these pages and using The Daily Lemon website you agree not to hold The Daily Lemon, Smart Stuff HB or any of its publishers, shareholders, principals or emplyees responsible for any loss, injury or discomfort resulting from reading or using any of the products, tips, tricks and ideas published on this site. Although we work very hard to provide you with the most current and accurate information, we can not and do not warrant that everything you see on this site is up-to-date, error-free or complete. While we may periodically add, modify or delete any of the information on the site, we do not make any commitment or assume any obligation or duty to do so, and you should assume that the information is current and up-to-date only as of the date it is posted to the site. Neither we nor any of the people involved in production of the site will be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential or punitive damages. Copyright © 2006-2008 Smart Stuff HB. Published by Smart Stuff HB. Version 2.0.

Links...

DMOZ
Globe of Blogs
Blog Catalog
Nyligen
Weblog Directory
Breaktaker
Linkswarm
Unique Daily
Bloggernity
Blogwatch
Blogs Catalog

Links to Site

More Lemons:

• Egyptian blogger gets prison for "insult"...

• New product adds even more sugar to kid's diet.

• Why the famous Audi ski jump ad is a fake...

• Freedom of speech on trial in France...

• Worst movies of '06...

• The soda can rip-off...

• Estonia - 852 souls still waiting for the truth...

• A Swedish Watergate unfolds...

• Ugly car of the month...

• Clean sports spokesman caught using cocaine...

• Designer of ugliest car gets fired...

• Are your veggies worth chewing...?

• General Motors and its not so glorious past...

• Swedish muslims demand shari'ah laws...

• Too fat for your head...?

• Stole sheep to train their pitbulls...

• Suicide by fast food...

• 5 things you should never buy used...

• On-line poker - why you lost money last night...

• Why nuking Iran is a major mistake...

• Why nuking Iran may not be such a bad idea...

• 96 airlines blacklisted...

• Ugly car of the month...

• Hotels with worst wi-fi service...

• The Tesla Shield scam...

• Funny ad bloopers...

• Steve Martin to play Closeau ... n-o-o-o...

• Insect torture prison...

• Windows for cars – heaven help us...

• War in Iraq three years and counting...

• As if our kids didn't get enough sugar...

• Internet censorship growing...

• Destroying fruit to produce water...

• Worst movies of '05...

• Four more ugly cars...

• British Big Brother to track all vehicles...

• Five really ugly cars...