Advertising - Occupational Hazards

[Habitual Perfectionist]

Another interesting article I chanced to jump on while surfing. Thought of sharing it with you all.



Credits : Reprinted from http://www.agencyfaqs.com - My favourite A & M website. The author is Aditya Chaterjee.





In the global village that we live today, it's common for MNCs to source their material from Trinidad, manufacture in Trincomali and sell in Tibet and Thiruvananthapuram. The scale of operations is maddening. And yet, it's imperative for MNCs to have an intimate understanding about the social customs, history and geography of the regions that they operate in. Otherwise, ignorance leads to total chaos and sometimes peril.



Sportswear giant Nike recently got wiser when China sternly said, "Just don't do it". It had to do with a Nike commercial which was a part of a global advertising campaign. Featuring NBA player LeBron James successfully dribbling a basket ball past some cartoon characters, the commercial was meant to encourage children to overcome any barriers, symbolised by the cartoon characters, that get in their way.



There were, however, two problems with the TVC. The first was that the cartoon figures were representative of famous Chinese icons. The second was that James is an American. In the commercial titled Chamber of Fear, James appears to successfully defeat two dragons, an ancient-looking martial arts teacher complete with long, wispy beard, and two women dressed in traditional Chinese costume - images that were subsequently construed as representing China itself.



Given the nature of the US-China relationship, the TVC did not go down well with the masses. Soon after, China's State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) announced that the advertisement "violates regulations that mandate that all advertisements in China should uphold national dignity and interest and respect the motherland's culture and banned the commercial.



Last heard, Nike has tendered an apology for unwittingly hurting Chinese sentiment.



This is not the first time a major MNC has caused offence to the Chinese with its advertising. In 2003, Japanese car company Toyota showed an image of its latest model cruising along a Chinese street while several lion statues that traditionally stand guard outside imperial buildings bowing their heads in awe and respect.



Given China's complaint that Japan has never fully apologised for it wartime actions and excesses, and the outright hatred that many Chinese express towards their neighbour, the imagery was seen to be in poor taste.



Even software major Microsoft had a run-in with Chinese authorities a few years back when a cartographical dispute saw Microsoft's Chinese employees being hauled by the government. Microsoft, of course, has a long history of its products being banned in some of the biggest markets on earth.



In 1995, when colouring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft had coloured eight of them in a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and India literally saw red. The product was promptly banned in India and Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds.



Another social blunder from Microsoft saw chanting of the Koran being used as a soundtrack for a computer game, which greatly offended the Saudi Arabian government. The company later issued a new version of the game without the chanting, while keeping the previous editions in circulation because US staff thought the slip wouldn't be spotted. But the Saudi government banned the game and demanded an apology. Microsoft had to withdraw the game.



The software giant managed to further offend Saudi Arabia by creating another game in which Muslim warriors turned churches into mosques. Even that game had to be withdrawn after protests.



Microsoft has also managed to upset Senoritas. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between 'not specified', 'male' or 'bitch', because of an unfortunate error in translation. Another example of lost in translation?



Among the goof-ups, 'lost-in-translation' seems to be the most common. Translating English into Spanish, in particular, is fraught with danger. Braniff, a US-based airline, realised this first-hand when it translated a slogan touting its upholstery, 'Fly in leather', in Spanish. It came out as "Fly naked." Imagine the embarrassment of conservative Senors and Senoritas.



Coors, a beer company, had the misfortune of its slogan 'Turn it loose' being read as 'Suffer from diarrhea' in Spanish. Now, that seemed more like a curse than an invitation to try out the beer.



Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, 'It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken' sounds much more interesting in Spanish: 'It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate.'



And, do you know why the Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries? Apparently, that had to do with 'Nova' meaning 'it doesn't go' in Spanish.



If translating into the Spanish language was disastrous, German was no better. When P&G first launched its Vicks cough drops in Germany, the MNC was shocked to learn that the German pronunciation of 'v' is 'f', which in German is the equivalent of 'sexual penetration'.



Then, there's the example of a hair products company, Clairol, which introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, in Germany. The company discovered to its horror that 'mist' is slang for manure. Little doubt that the product didn't exactly fly off the shelves as not too many people had use for the 'manure' stick.



When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, the company used the same packaging as is done in the US with a cute baby on the label. Later company executives realised that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures of what's inside the container on the label, since most people cannot read in that continent.



Soft drink majors Pepsi and Coke have their own story to tell. When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, it translated the slogan, 'Pepsi Brings You Back to Life' quite literally. The slogan in Chinese meant, 'Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave.'



Coca-Cola's first experience with China was even funnier. When Coke shipped its first bottles to China, the company named the product something that when pronounced sounded like 'Coca-Cola.' Now, not too many people would find fault with that. Would they? Well, the only problem was that the Chinese characters used to pronounce 'Coca-Cola' meant 'Bite the wax tadpole.' The Chinese, like the French, may have a taste for certain organs of a frog, but biting into a tadpole is a bit too much. The company wisely changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness in the mouth".

[salamehyderabad]

That was a nice topic. I did read this earlier. Here is one amongst them Hazards. Prolly ppl have read this one but....jus posting



In April 2003 American Eagle Outfitters in USA introduced following Sandals as one of their summer products. This company operates about 750 American Eagle stores in the US and Canada.



On 27 April, 2003 IndiaCause launched an informal protest (which was not yet conveyed to our members). We also communicated our disappointment with the Management and expected their response before we launched a formal protest.



On 29 April, 2003 American Eagle Management responded positively to our protest and faxed their letter confirming "Please accept this letter as our formal apology for our use of the image resembling the Lord Ganesh on this product". In his letter Neil Bulman, Jr. (Vice President and General Counsel, AE) assured "we will remove these flip-flop shoes from our stores".... (letter below)





http://www.indiacause.com/cause/C18_AE_Ganesha.htm

[Habitual Perfectionist]

Since we've touched base on advertising here, why not make this into a thread to discuss the subject of advertising itself?



To start with...which do you think are the Indian brands that have achieved a cult status?



My votes go to Amul, Bullet and the ubiquitous Dalda.

[salamehyderabad]

Abercrombie T-shirts depicting African Americans in derogatory, stereotypical roles never would have made it to production. But when A&F decided to pick on a minority like Asian Americans with offensive slogans like "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: two Wongs can make it white!", the T-shirts are produced by the thousands. But just because one statement may not incite as much public outcry as another does not make it any less racist.

Abercrombie & Fitch never should have designed a product – much less produced it – knowing it was racially questionable. But as a result of America's focus on black/white paradigms and the relatively decent socioeconomic status of many members of their community, racism against Asian Americans is often overlooked. This is evident in the exclusion of Asian Americans in UC affirmative action policies, but is also prevalent in larger societal attitudes – like the one shown here by Abercrombie. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is little publicity or knowledge of Asian American struggles or Civil Rights leaders.



College students nationwide are justified in banding together to boycott Abercrombie products. Taking a stand will send a clear message that consumers will not tolerate promotion of such blatant racism. Respect for different histories, traditions and cultures should not be disregarded because a particular group's advocates and struggles are not as visible as another's.



Abercrombie's apology was quaint, but the insult has already been made and the damage done. The real shame, though, is the large portion of Americans who follow suit, defining racial sensitivity by what they can get away with rather than by what is morally correct.



http://www.dailybruin.com/db/articles.asp?ID=19446

[Habitual Perfectionist]

Alright SeH....since you're game, we'll continue this thread the way it was started. I'll start another thread for cult brands later. Here are some more advertising gaffes.



When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarass you." However, the company mistakenly thought the spanish word embarazar meant "embarass." Instead, the ads said that "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!"



In Italy, a compaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water!



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



Ford had a problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals." Ford pried the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means "horse."

[akhilis2cool]

This is a very good topic sir also start the Best campaigns topic ASAP.



There have been several goof-ups but most of them seem to have been committed by the US companies. I guess the reason here is that comapnies in other countries, including India, do not make public the expiriences that they have had in the form of CASE STUDIES.

[Just Another Human]

The ad I liked in the recent past is Chloromint.



That was fun and it somehow shows that for everything in life, there is funnier side to it.

[Just Another Human]

Since we've touched base on advertising here, why not make this into a thread to discuss the subject of advertising itself?

To start with...which do you think are the Indian brands that have achieved a cult status?

My votes go to Amul, Bullet and the ubiquitous Dalda.

AMUL is Amul. If we actually watch those ads, we can take a trip down memory lane for sure and we will definitely be nostalgic. .... Jara si Hansi Dular jara sa - The Taste of India



Also, Dairy Milk is an ad which is so good and tickles the heart - Kya Swaad hai Zindagi ka - the people in all the dairy milk ads are perfect fits.



Hero Honda 'Desh Ki Dhadkan' - cool one again - simple and sensual.

[Habitual Perfectionist]

Since we've touched base on advertising here, why not make this into a thread to discuss the subject of advertising itself?

To start with...which do you think are the Indian brands that have achieved a cult status?

My votes go to Amul, Bullet and the ubiquitous Dalda.

AMUL is Amul. If we actually watch those ads, we can take a trip down memory lane for sure and we will definitely be nostalgic. .... Jara si Hansi Dular jara sa - The Taste of India

Also, Dairy Milk is an ad which is so good and tickles the heart - Kya Swaad hai Zindagi ka - the people in all the dairy milk ads are perfect fits.

Hero Honda 'Desh Ki Dhadkan' - cool one again - simple and sensual.

I'm sorry JAH....I was asking about cult brands here....brands that have achieved Godlike status among their followers.



But the campaigns you've mentioned have been some of the best in Indian advertising history.

[Just Another Human]

Since we've touched base on advertising here, why not make this into a thread to discuss the subject of advertising itself?

To start with...which do you think are the Indian brands that have achieved a cult status?

My votes go to Amul, Bullet and the ubiquitous Dalda.

AMUL is Amul. If we actually watch those ads, we can take a trip down memory lane for sure and we will definitely be nostalgic. .... Jara si Hansi Dular jara sa - The Taste of India

Also, Dairy Milk is an ad which is so good and tickles the heart - Kya Swaad hai Zindagi ka - the people in all the dairy milk ads are perfect fits.

Hero Honda 'Desh Ki Dhadkan' - cool one again - simple and sensual.

I'm sorry JAH....I was asking about cult brands here....brands that have achieved Godlike status among their followers.

But the campaigns you've mentioned have been some of the best in Indian advertising history.

O H ! I guess it's better if i wait n watch for sometime on this cult-like thing-y. Thanks HP. Please carry on.