Brand blunder

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The French fizzy drink brand Pschitt may have other connotations in English

A brand blunder is an error associated with the branding of a product, especially a new product in a new market. Reasons for such slips include the lack of understanding of the language, culture and consumer attitudes in the new market.

There are numerous examples of brand blunders in marketing history; there are also numerous urban legends surrounding brand blunders, where there is little evidence of an actual blunder.

International branding issues

Problems with international product branding are often associated with the process of language localisation, in which the product brand name or advertising slogan carries a different meaning in the language of the target market.[1] In addition to linguistic aspects, issues of cultural sensitivity can affect the success of a brand. [2]

This is a risk faced by companies entering a new market. In international marketing, a brand name must be distinctive and easy to pronounce across multiple markets, but it must not have unintended negative or obscene connotations. This risk is usually mitigated by factoring cultural research into a branding strategy.[3]

True cases

File:Pocari Sweat là sự lựa chọn tối ưu cho sức khỏe.png
A bottle of Pocari Sweat (Japan)
A Colombian van branded with Bimbo bread

Examples of brand names which have proved unsuitable for use in English-speaking countries have included:[3]

  • Alu-Fanny, a French aluminium foil
  • Barfy, a brand of frozen hamburgers in Argentina
  • Bimbo, a Mexican brand of bread
  • Calpis, a Japanese soft drink
  • Crapsy Fruit, a French breakfast cereal
  • Atum Bom, a Portuguese brand of tinned tuna
  • Spunk, Danish confectionery
  • Kräpp, Swedish toilet paper (Swedish language pronunciation of crepe)
  • Kum Onit, a German make of pencil sharpeners
  • Plopp, a Swedish chocolate bar
  • Pocari Sweat, a Japanese sports drink
  • Poo, type of curry powder in Argentina
  • Pschitt, a French fizzy soft drink
  • A number of Belgian beer brands, such as Silly, Prik, Slag, La Plope, Pee Klak and Witte Dikke[4]

Brand names and advertising campaigns which have proved controversial in recent years have included the following instances:

  • In 1997, the sportswear company Reebok introduced a women's running shoe called "Incubus"; the company was forced to recall the product when it was called to their attention that an incubus is a mythical male demon that rapes women in their sleep.[5]
  • A 1997 direct mailer from Weight Watchers featuring Sarah Ferguson, with a caption stating that losing weight was "harder than outrunning the paparazzi", appeared in mailboxes in the days before and following the death of Ferguson's former sister-in-law Princess Diana, an incident in which paparazzi were at the time suspected to have played a role. The company quickly pulled the ads.[6][7]
  • An April 2002 Starbucks ad featured twin cups of their Tazo drinks with the caption "Collapse into cool" and an airborne dragonfly, imagery and wording which reminded many of the recent 9/11 attacks. Though the ads were created before the attacks and the resemblance was coincidental, the company apologized and pulled the posters.[8]
  • In 2005 the electronics company Nintendo brought to market in South Korea an electronic dictionary for children named Touch Dic; it was subsequently renamed Touch Dictionary as the name sounded too similar to the slang term "dick".[9][10]
  • In 2006 Sony had a limited Dutch billboard campaign promoting the then-upcoming arrival of the white PlayStation Portable by featuring a black woman and white woman with respectively colored clothing and hair in confrontational poses. After accusations of racism, Sony pulled the ads.[11][12]
  • In 2008, Greyhound Canada hastily pulled the slogan "There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage'" after Tim McLean was murdered and beheaded by fellow passenger Vince Weiguang Li aboard a bus in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.[13]
  • A Nike ad on Oscar Pistorius' website used the caption "I am the bullet in the chamber" and was pulled in 2013 after his arrest in connection with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.[14]
The Ford Pinto: problematic in Brazil
The Toyota MR2 sounded unusual in French
  • The Honda Jazz was initially named the Honda Fitta. However, when marketing collateral reached the Swedish office of the company, it was pointed out that fitta is a slang term for "vagina" in Swedish and Norwegian. The model was renamed "Jazz" for most markets, with the name "Fit" being used in Japan, China, and the Americas.[15] Similarly, sales of the Ford Pinto suffered in Brazil due to pinto being a Portuguese slang word for a penis; Mitsubishi found that the name of its Pajero model was the same as the Spanish term for "wanker"; and the name of the Toyota MR2, when spoken in French, bore an uncomfortable phonetic similarity to the French word merde, meaning "shit".[16] German manufacturer Audi launched the e-tron electric car sub-brand in concept cars in 2009 and in production models in 2018, despite the French word "étron" meaning "crap".
  • A name given by IKEA's Chinese website for its stuffed wolf toy Lufsig, Lo Mo Sai (路姆西), contained a homophone of Hai (閪), a profane Cantonese word meaning "vagina"; the name itself could be written as Lo Mo Hai (老母閪), meaning "mother's vagina".[17][18][19]
  • Swiss beverage brand Schweppes were quick to pull a campaign in Italy promoting its Indian tonic water when the name "Il water" was chosen. This is due to "Il water" meaning "the toilet" in Italian and, instead, the name "Tonica" was chosen.
  • Ayds diet suppressant candy, which had existed for decades prior, continued to use this phonetically identical brand name through the 1980s, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic continued to grow. In 1985–1986, use of the name was in fact defended by executives of the company that manufactured it, as a boon to sales. Sales eventually plummeted, and the product name was changed in 1988–1989.
  • In 2011, an internal leak of the Dell Latitude ST tablet (codenamed Peju) spread virally on the internet and received some attention in Indonesia, since peju means sperm in Indonesian slang.[20][21][22][23]
  • In 2012, a clothing store named "Hitler" opened in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The store immediately became embroiled in an international controversy over its association with the German Nazi-era leader, Adolf Hitler.[24]
  • Kiri cheese, produced by Bel Group, was rebranded as "Kibi" in Iran due to the derogatory meaning of kiri in Persian for male genitalia and rotten or rank.[25]
  • Nokia's Lumia brand translates to prostitute in Spanish but is an uncommon word with Romani roots.[26]
  • Apple's Siri personal assistant pronunciation in Japan as "shiri" translates to buttocks,[27] and in Indonesia, siri translates to "de facto (unregistered) marriage".[28]
  • The World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view event Elimination Chamber carries a different name in Germany, "No Escape", in order to avoid associations with the Holocaust.[29]
  • In 2019, Mushkegowuk Council Grand Chief told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Heinz's latest 'Mayochup' product (a portmanteau of mayonnaise and ketchup) means "shit-face" in Cree. The incident went viral on Twitter.[30]
  • In 2019, Kontool, a BI software based in Germany, decided to use another name in Indonesia since Kontool sounds like kontol (penis) in Indonesian slang.[31][32]
  • In 2020, Bank Artos renamed itself unto Bank Jago, however it went viral in Indonesia, since pronunciation of Bank Jago is similar to bang jago (an ad hominem rhetorical tactic in Indonesian slang to end any argument in a passive-aggressive way).[33][34]
  • In 2017, Ford released an advertising campaign which featured three women who were bound, gagged, and stuffed in the trunk of a Ford hatchback. After the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo movement occurred the very same year, the campaign was pulled and Ford released an official apology.
  • After the 2017 Boston Marathon, participants received an email from Nike. The subject line read, "Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!", wording which reminded many of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. A public apology soon followed.
  • In 2020, the Renault Arkana SUV was renamed Renault Mégane Conquest in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, after the local Renault subsidiary objected to the similarity with the nickname of Serbian mobster and warlord Željko Ražnatović "Arkan". Earlier unfortunate car model name choices that were not rectified include Alfa Romeo MiTo (mito means "bribe" in several South Slavic languages) and Ford Kuga ("bubonic plague").[35]
  • Telaso, a brand for various products,[36][37][38] is an expletive on Southern and Western Celebes language which means smegma.[citation needed]
  • Phanteks, a Dutch PC chassis manufacturer. Although Phanteks should be pronounced as "fan-techs". Indonesian people pronounce it as "Panteks", in which Pantek is an expletive in Sumatran Malay (Minangkabau, Ocu, Palembang, Pasisi, etc.) and Maduranese language meaning "fuck you".[39]
  • Sangean, a Taiwanese consumer electronic brand which means too easy to sexually aroused in Indonesian expletives.[40]
  • ITIL, an IT activities which means clitoris in Indonesian expletive.[40]
  • Kasian, an architecture and interior design industry which means "poor sod" or "pathetic" in Bahasa (Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog).[40]
  • Silit, a Germany cooking apparel which means arse in Javanese expletives.[40]
  • Entod, a Hindustani pharmaceutical industry which means "making love" or "fuck you" in Indonesian expletives.[40]
  • BEGO, a dental health industry which means retarded in Indonesian expletives.[40]
  • teTeX, a TeX distro which sounds like tetek (an Indonesian expletive for breast).[41]
  • MeMeX, a darknet search engine which sounds similar with memek (vagina) in Indonesian expletives.[42][43]

The internet

The rise of the internet has provided new ways for marketers to interact with the public. The resultant seemingly trial-and-error attempts to capitalize on new technologies have resulted in some of the most public brand blunders in recent memory.

File:Dub the Dew.png
A screenshot of the Mountain Dew contest before it was taken down
  • A 2012 internet promotion for Mountain Dew titled "Dub the Dew" went horribly wrong after the website dubthedew.com was compromised by trolls. Participants were supposed to submit and vote on potential names for an apple-flavored variant of Mountain Dew. Instead, the contest, upon discovery by 4chan, was bombarded with unusable and offensive names. The site was taken down quickly and the promotion cancelled, but not before the name "Hitler did nothing wrong" reached the No. 1 position and the top of the page was hacked to show a satirical message of support for the Mossad.[44][45]
  • In 2014, a DiGiorno tweet using a trending hashtag accidentally injected pizza marketing into an otherwise serious conversation about domestic violence. The reply "You had pizza" to the hashtag #WhyIStayed was not well received by the online public and the marketing account made dozens of apology tweets following the incident.[46]

Urban legends

Urban legends about brand blunders are popular, because they use familiar urban legend motifs such as the incompetent corporation or the ignorant foreigner. Often the reality is far less dramatic, and the stories, which are even retold in marketing textbooks as cautionary tales, are rarely backed up by researched data about sales.

  • Electrolux: Swedish vacuum manufacturer Electrolux sold products successfully in the United Kingdom using a slogan produced by the English agency Cogent Elliot: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux". Although many Americans think this is an example of a blunder,[47] in fact the slang disparagement "sucks", originating in American English, was not current in British English at that time.
  • Pepsi: Pepsi allegedly introduced their slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" into the Chinese market. Translated into Chinese, it read "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave".[48] A similar claim has been made for the "Coke adds life" slogan, with the target market listed as anything from Taiwan to Thailand[49] to Japan.[50]
  • Coca-Cola: The name Coca-Cola rendered phonetically in Chinese can sound like the words for "bite the wax tadpole" (simplified Chinese: 蝌蚪啃蜡; traditional Chinese: 蝌蚪啃蠟; pinyin: Kēdǒu kěn là) or "female horse stuffed with wax" (骒马口蠟). Before marketing in China, the company found a close phonetic equivalent, kěkǒukělè (可口可乐), which roughly means "let your mouth rejoice" or "tasty and enjoyable". It was never marketed by the company using the other phrases, though individual merchants may have made such signs.[51]
  • An urban legend holds that the Chevrolet Nova automobile sold poorly in Latin America, as "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. In truth, the car sold well.[52] The same has been said of the Vauxhall Nova, which had to be sold as an Opel Corsa in Spain. This too is a myth, as the car was built in Spain and known there as a Corsa from the outset. The stress of "Nova" is quite different from "no va", and Spanish speakers would be familiar with Nova as the Latin word for "new." The legend is the equivalent of claiming a furniture set called Notable didn't sell well in America because of the name's similarity to "no table".
  • Claims that the Buick LaCrosse name in translation becomes the equivalent of "to cross oneself", a Quebec French slang term for masturbation, are overstated. Buick initially used the nameplate Allure in Canada in an overabundance of caution when introducing the model in 2005, but abandoned this dual branding early in the 2010 model year. The vehicle now uses the LaCrosse branding in all countries.[53]
  • Fake ads, often with sexually explicit content such as one for Puma[54][55] and an even less plausible pedophilia-themed one for Breyers,[56][57] have attracted attention and even official responses from the company denying affiliation.[58]

References

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  2. ^ Fromowitz, Mike (10 February 2017). "Hall of shame: More multicultural brand blunders". www.campaignlive.com. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b Melin, Tracy L.; Ray, Nina M. (1 December 2007). "Emphasizing Foreign Language Use to International Marketing Students: A Situational Exercise That Mimics Real-World Challenges". Global Business Languages. 10. New Initiaitves, Article 3: 19. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  4. ^ Elliott, Mark (2010). CultureShock! Belgium: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. pp. 139–140. ISBN 978-981-4484-25-1.
  5. ^ "Incubus Shoe". Snopes.com. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  6. ^ Weight Watchers Rethinks Its Duchess Of York Campaign
  7. ^ Fergie Ads Pulled by Weight Watchers Archived 10 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Starbucks' 'Collapse into Cool' Campaign
  9. ^ Ransom-Wiley, James (18 August 2005). "Potentially offensive DS dictionary set for release". joystiq.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  10. ^ "15 Video Games With The Dumbest Names Imaginable". www.ebaumsworld.com. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  11. ^ Sony ad provokes race accusations Archived 24 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Is this offensive to you? The Lilith Effect
  13. ^ Gillies, Rob (6 August 2008). "Greyhound scraps ad campaign after Canada bus beheading". USA Today. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  14. ^ 'Bullet in the chamber' Nike ad pulled from Oscar Pistorius' website Archived 28 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Fitta blev dyr affär för Honda
  16. ^ Sánchez, Dr Yvette; Brühwiler, Dr Claudia Franziska (28 August 2015). Transculturalism and Business in the BRIC States: A Handbook. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9781472444011. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  17. ^ "How this cute Ikea doll became a symbol of protest in Hong Kong". that's Online. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  18. ^ Chan, Yuen (9 December 2013). "IKEA Toy Wolf Becomes Unlikely Anti-Government Symbol in Hong Kong". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  19. ^ McBain, Sophie (10 December 2013). "How Lufsig the cuddly wolf became a Hong Kong protest symbol – A short lesson in the art of mistranslating names into Chinese." Archived 30 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine The New Statesman.
  20. ^ Weir, Andy. "Dell 'Peju' Windows tablet breaks cover". Neowin. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  21. ^ Opam, Kwame. "Dell's 10-inch Sperm Tablet Will Run Windows 7". Gizmodo. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  22. ^ "Ini Dia Asal Usul Nama Dell Peju". detikinet (in Indonesian). Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  23. ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  24. ^ Nelson, Dean (29 August 2012). "India's Jewish community condemn 'Hitler' clothes shop". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  25. ^ "The French cheese that means "rotten" in Farsi". The France 24 Observers. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  26. ^ Matyszczyk, Chris. "Nokia's Lumia means, um, 'prostitute' in Spanish". CNET. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  27. ^ Matyszczyk, Chris. "Apple's Siri is Apple's buttocks in Japan". CNET. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  28. ^ "Definition of "Nikah" in KBBI" (in Indonesian). Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  29. ^ Hoffmann, Martin (20 February 2018). "Darum hat eine WWE-Show zwei Namen" [This is why a WWE show has two names]. Sport1 (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  30. ^ "Heinz calls Mayochup meaning in Cree an 'unfortunate translation'". CBC. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  31. ^ Ekawati, Arti. "Kini... Kontool Tahu Mengapa Perusahaan Startup Harus 'Berpikir Besar'". Deutsche Welle (in Indonesian). Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  32. ^ Untari, Pernita Hestin. "Perusahaan Asal Jerman 'Kontool' Bakal Ganti Nama Jika Masuk Pasar Indonesia". OkeZone (in Indonesian). Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  33. ^ Salsabila, Annisa Putri. "Bang Jago Ternyata Bukan Cuma Meme, Tapi Beneran Ada Bank Bernama Bank Jago di Indonesia". HAI Online Magazine (in Indonesian). Retrieved 4 April 2022.
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  41. ^ "The teTeX Homepage". www.tug.org. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  42. ^ "Memex - iTempo - koran.tempo.co". Tempo (in Indonesian). 20 February 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  43. ^ "Memex Diklaim Bisa Kalahkan Google, Bukan Jorok Ya!". hitekno.com (in Indonesian). 1 August 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
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  45. ^ "Dub The Dew". Know Your Meme. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  46. ^ "DiGiorno Accidentally Tried To Advertise Their Pizza In A Hashtag About Domestic Violence". BuzzFeed News. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
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  49. ^ "Fast Facts: Slogans That Have Been Lost in Translation | Fox News". Fox News. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  50. ^ "The International Environment". Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  51. ^ "Bite the Wax Tadpole". snopes.com. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  52. ^ "Nova Don't Go". snopes.com. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  53. ^ "La Buick LaCrosse ? Un nom pas d'Allure... | Denis Arcand | Actualités". Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  54. ^ "The racy photo that's got Puma steamed". Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2013. Puma's Problem The racy photo that's got a sneaker company steamed
  55. ^ Fake Puma Ad Mystery Solved Archived 4 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  56. ^ The Ice Cream For Pedophiles Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  57. ^ 'Lickable' Breyers Ad Archived 5 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  58. ^ Sexually Explicit PUMA Ads Are Fake, Company Says Archived 7 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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