Real translations of product names and mottos -

The nominees for the Chevy Nova Award (named in honour of GM's fiasco in trying to market this car in Central and South America--"no va" means, in Spanish, "it doesn't go") are:

1. The Dairy Association's huge success with its campaign "Got milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention that the Spanish translation read, "Are you lactating?"

2. Coors' translated its slogan "Turn it Loose" for its Spanish demographic group where it was read as "Suffer from Diarrhoea".

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

4. Clairol introduced a curling iron, the "Mist Stick" in Germany, only to find out that in German "mist" is slang for manure.

5. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa they used the same packaging as in the US--a smiling baby on the label. Later Gerber learned that, because of high numbers of illiterate consumers, companies in Africa routinely put pictures on the labels of their products to indicate what is inside.

6. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called "Cue" which is also the name of a notorious porno magazine.

7. An American T-shirt manufacturer in Miami printed shirts for the Hispanic market to commemorate the Pope's visit. In stead of reading "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 in Chinese reads "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."

9. The name "Coca-Cola" in Chinese first read as "Kekoukela" which means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" (depending on the dialect.) Coke research 40,000 Chinese language characters to determine the phonetic equivalent "kokou kole" translated as "happiness in your mouth."

10. Frank Perdue's 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 slogan was supposed to read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" meant "embarrass" only to find that its ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

12. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather class seats in their Mexican market, it translated its "Fly in Leather" campaign literally, which in Spanish is an idiomatic phrase that meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero.)