Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!uwvax!caip!im4u!ut-sally!ark From: ark@ut-sally.UUCP (Arthur M. Keller) Newsgroups: net.jokes Subject: Re: Coca Cola and the Chinese market (a true story) Message-ID: <4294@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Wed, 26-Feb-86 15:11:11 EST Article-I.D.: ut-sally.4294 Posted: Wed Feb 26 15:11:11 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 1-Mar-86 01:03:40 EST References: <766@cylixd.UUCP> Reply-To: ark@sally.UUCP (Arthur M. Keller) Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas Lines: 77 Keywords: translated ads The following is an AP story that appeared in the Sunday, February 23 issue of the Austin American-Statesman Business section. "Hispanic oriented ads lose in the translation" San Antonio (AP) -- More companies are trying to reach the Hispanic market through advertising and some of their efforts have resulted in emabarrassing errors, a marketing expert says. Marketers have only a limited understanding of Hispanic culture and language, according to Humberto Valencia, assistant professor of marketing at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. For example, a beer company translated its "turn it loose" slogan into Spanish learned to late that the message to SPanish-speaking consumers had become "Our beer causes diarrhea." A pet-food manufacturer tried the humorous approach, but once again the message was lost in translation, he said. The situation depicted a certain feline as having died eight times and, if he did not eat this particular cat food, he was going to die for the ninth and final time. The language used was correct, but the agency failed to realize one major difference: in Latin folk culture, cats have only seven lives. The commercial bombed. A telephone company ran a campaign depicting a woman telling her husband to "run downstairs and phone Maria to tell her we'll be a little late." Again, culture was not taken into account. In the Hispanic home, Valencia said, seldome does a woman give her husband orders. And rarely will a family call to say they will be late. It is customary to arrive late, he said. A chicken company had one of its slogans translated too literally. The ad in English said, "It takes a tough man to make a chicken tender." The slogan was understood in Spanish as, "It makes a sexually excited man to make a chick sensual." A beer company used the wrong gener in one of its campaigns. Beer, cerveza, is a feminine noun in Spanish and should have been labeled the "queen" rather than the "king" of beers. A cigarette advertisement claimed that it had "less asphalt" rather than less tar, he said, and a beer company found out that its ad was being sung incorrectly in the Spanish media. The company's "less filling, delicious" claim came across as "filling, less delicious." Some brand names attract the wrong kind of attention, the Chevrolet Nova story being perhaps the best known example. What Spanish speaker would want a car that means "no go?" Some ads contain subtle, non-verbal details that can disturb a particular subgroup. A commercial for a beer company, which used San Antonio's River Walk as a backdrop, was well-received among West Coast Hispanics who enjoyed the Spanish flavor, Valencia said. Ironically, San Antonio's own Hispanics did not relate well, he said, because they felt the "Paseo del Rio" was more for Anlgo tourists than for Hispanic residents. ---- I vaguely remember that Esso changed is name to Exxon because the name was a derogatory term in some language. That's why the double X was chosen: it was assumed no language would have that construct. Anybody else remember this or can supply more details? Arthur -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arpanet: ARK@SALLY.UTEXAS.EDU UUCP: {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,pyramid,siesmo}!ut-sally!ark