10 Hilarious Cultural Brand Blunders

As companies franchise into international markets they don't always get their marketing campaigns right. Some advertisements don't quite translate from country to country. Companies can lose millions with a campaign that isn't tailored specifically to their targeted segment. Their errors show that there are limitations to globalization.

 Even Homer Simpson would cringe at these mistakes!

The errors just also happen to be hilarious!

1.     Puffs

What happened
Puffs facial tissues wanted to market in Germany.

Why it's funny
Puffs is an unfortunate brand name, especially in Germany. The German word "puff" is a colloquial term for whorehouse.

2.     Panasonic

What happened
In the 90s Japan wanted to release an innovative product, a touchscreen PC, into the U.S. They decided to use an American cartoon that was very popular in Japan at the time, Woody the Woodpecker.

Why it's funny
They called the product "Woody" not knowing it was American slang for penis. Better yet, to promote the touchscreen feature they used the tagline "Touch Woody."

3.     HSBC

What happened
In 2009 the bank had a campaign that used the tagline "Assume Nothing."

Why it's funny
"Assume Nothing" translated into "Do Nothing" within some of the countries the bank had locations in. It's $10 million of a rebranding campaign funny.

4.     Braniff Airlines

What happened
Braniff airlines added an extra feature to luxury class flights that included comfy leather seats. They decided to use the tagline "Fly in Leather" to promote the new feature.

Why its funny
The Spanish translation for "Fly in Leather" was "Vuela en cuero," a phrase that easily could be mistaken for "Vuela en cueros"-- which means "Fly Naked." That definitely would definitely make the flight more interesting...

5.     Clariol

What happened
Clariol had a curling iron called "Mist stick" which they were trying to promote in Germany.

Why it's funny
"Mist" is German slang for manure. I don't know about you, but I don't want that in my hair.

6.     Nike

What happened
Nike was selling a line of shoes with a wave-like pattern on the back of them.

Why its funny
The symbol caused outrage when it was perceived as resembling the Arabic word for Allah. Product recalls= hilarious.

7.     Gerber

What happened
Baby food brand Gerber wanted to sell its product in Africa. The product had the Gerber logo which has a cute baby on it.

Why its funny
In Africa, products usually have pictures on the label of what's inside because most consumers can't read. Yum, babies. Also Gerber is the French word for vomiting, therefore Gerber is not sold in France.

8.     KFC

What happened
KFC was expanding globally into areas such as China using its popular slogan "Finger Licking Good."

Why its funny
In China "Finger Licking Good" translated into "Eat your fingers off." Ouch!

9.     American Dairy Association

What happened
The ADA was very successful with its "Got Milk?" campaign in America so they decided to bring it to Mexico.

Why it's funny
"Got Milk?" translated into Spanish as "Are you lactating?" Well that's kind of a personal question...

10.    Colgate

What happened
Colgate tried to sell one of their toothpastes in France called Colgate Cue.

Why it's funny
"Cue" in France is the name of a popular pornographic magazine. Not necessarily what you want to be thinking about when your brushing your teeth.



Hope you enjoyed those. I can't believe how often major companies make major errors. It's not so funny when so much money is at risk. Moral of the story: do your research! Learn the culture, or at least the proper language translation, of the country you are trying to sell to.

Cheers!
Laura