[Weyland-Yutani]

I was just came upon the Lockheed-Martin website and well..

Lockheed-Martin - We never forget who we're working for.

Whew! That's a relief.


and another of the silliest ever;

American Airlines - We Know Why You Fly

Menacing and creepy at the same time.
Oh boy.


Any bad slogans you can think of? Do share

cheers

W-Y

[E's Lil Theorem]

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

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

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."

When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the U.S., 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.

The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la", 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: "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "Happiness in the mouth."

In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan, "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation," came out as "Pepsi Will Bring Your Ancestors Back From The Grave" in Chinese.

Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan, "Finger-Lickin' Good" came out as "Eat Your Fingers Off."

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 General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "No Va" means "It Won't Go." After the company figured out why it was not selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "Tiny Male Genitals." Ford pried all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse.

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its adds were supposed to say, "It Won't Leak In Your Pocket And Embarrass You." However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that "It Won't Leak In Your Pocket And Make You Pregnant."

An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato." (la papa)

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.

Linkage

[moodymonster]

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by E's Lil Theorem

When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "No Va" means "It Won't Go." After the company figured out why it was not selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Urban myth Apparently

[dillerX]

I rolled the first time i heard them sing that in a TV ad.

[greenamp]

[Albert Pujols]

Those girls make me wanta.

[effgee]

German cell phone provider O2 (as in: "oxygen", get it? barf): "O2 can do."
German perfumery chain Douglas: "Come in and find out."




And no, these are not translated from German into English - those are their original slogans.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

Urban myth Apparently

I don't have Snopes links (too lazy + I don't know if they're there), but all three of the Chinese examples are also well-known urban legends. Plus, the 'new' (ie. real) Chinese name for Coke is not 'ko-kou-ko-le', but 'Kekou Kele' (可口可乐), which literally means 'tasty and funny', though the last part (kele, 可乐) can also mean 'very happy', rather than 'funny', giving the phrase as a whole the meaning of 'that which is tasty makes you feel all happy'. Well, something close to that; I can't think of a good way of putting it in English. You could almost say it's like 'tasty -> happy', or 'tasty = happy'. It doesn't mean 'happiness in the mouth' - that would be 嘴里的乐 (zuili de le).

[Spliffdaddy]

found on a bottle of shampoo:

"Costs less than more expensive brands."

[Albert Pujols]

"Think different."

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by Oisín

I don't have Snopes links (too lazy + I don't know if they're there), but all three of the Chinese examples are also well-known urban legends. Plus, the 'new' (ie. real) Chinese name for Coke is not 'ko-kou-ko-le', but 'Kekou Kele' (可口可乐), which literally means 'tasty and funny', though the last part (kele, 可乐) can also mean 'very happy', rather than 'funny', giving the phrase as a whole the meaning of 'that which is tasty makes you feel all happy'. Well, something close to that; I can't think of a good way of putting it in English. You could almost say it's like 'tasty -> happy', or 'tasty = happy'. It doesn't mean 'happiness in the mouth' - that would be 嘴里的乐 (zuili de le).

Here it is.


Fanta was invented by the Nazis.

[anthonyvthc]

UPS - "What can brown do for you?"

This is just creepy, and it seems like it should have been spoofed a million times by now (IE What can you do to brown?" etc...)

[chabig]

"Where do you want to go today?"

On second thought, forget we asked. You'll go where we tell you because we're a monopoly.

[KeyLimePi]

I think the Boost Mobile slogan illustrates everything that's wrong with America:

"Where You At?"

[Aiglos]

"I'm lovin' it"

Loving what? Heart disease?

[Cipher13]

It's not a company slogan, but just today while at the train station, I saw a huge banner promoting pedestrian road safety.

It proclaimed:

? B4 UX

Translation: think before you cross.

My God, I hope the people responsible for that die.

[turtle777]

Just wait another 10 years until the 1337 generation gets out of college, and you'll have 1337 slogans all over the place.

-t

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Cipher13

It's not a company slogan, but just today while at the train station, I saw a huge banner promoting pedestrian road safety.

It proclaimed:

? B4 UX

Translation: think before you cross.

I would have guessed it was for small children: “Ask before you cross”.

(Thanks for the link, iMOTOR)

[ManOfSteal]

Just do it.

[VoicesInMyHead]

Yeah, the Chevy Nova thing is not true. I am from Mexico City, and my neighbour and a lot of other people owned Novas. Chevrolet never changed the name of that car. The Caribe was the VW Golf or Rabbit.

[greenamp]

[Zimphire]

I did a yellow page ad for a sewage line company the other day. "Don't Hump It, Pump It"

[Thilo Ettelt]

On the website of the Deutsche Post (german postal), there's small flash banner, saying (in transition):

"How do you reach your audience?"
"By leaving those out who don't belong to it"
"Click for more"

riiighht....

Funnily, nothing happens when you click on the banner. It comes up with the same website as before.


- Thilo

[:XI:]

Originally Posted by Thilo Ettelt

On the website of the Deutsche Post (german postal), there's small flash banner, saying (in transition):

"How do you reach your audience?"
"By leaving those out who don't belong to it"
"Click for more"

riiighht....

Funnily, nothing happens when you click on the banner. It comes up with the same website as before.


- Thilo

Works for me.

Oh NO! They're leaving you out!

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally Posted by :XI:

Works for me.

Oh NO! They're leaving you out!

lol that's weird cuz i took the effort to launch Firefox just for this stupid website (and it still didn't work)


- Thilo

[Ω]

Originally Posted by Thilo Ettelt

lol that's weird cuz i took the effort to launch Firefox just for this stupid website (and it still didn't work)


- Thilo

Rejected by a website.

Ouch.

[shabbasuraj]

Not a slogan but a product naming issue....

The Audi TT.... (a car that can be bought in Canada and the US, AFAIK)

Phonetically "TT" pronounced like the actual letter "T" said twice, in the Filipino language (known as Tagalog) refers to penis.

So the Audi TT, actually translates "the Audi Penis"

LOL.....

[amsalpemkcus]

nevermind

[crabsandbeer]

The Hair Cuttery: F__k it, It'll grow back!

[Goldfinger]

Microsoft: Your potential, our passion.

WTF

[fhoubi]

[Weyland-Yutani]

Here's one..



"Easy as Dell"

Oh dear.

cheers

W-Y