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Marketing language blunders...



 
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Marketing language blunders... #1 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 9:06 am   Marketing language blunders...		  
Jamie's Not so SMART discussion reminded me of an article I read about the marketing blunder Mitsubishi made in Spanish speaking countries. According to that article Mitsubishi had trouble selling their Pajero car until they realized that pajero was not the right name for a car in Spanish speaking countries.

Also, I think Rolls Royce once offered a model called Morning Mist. When they wanted to launch the car in Germany they were experiencing great difficulties -- the word mist exists in German too. However, its meaning is completely different to the English mist...

Any other examples of marketing blunders?
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Torsten
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Torsten Daerr

Joined: 25 Sep 2003
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Not a blunder but a challenge #2 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:54 am   Not a blunder but a challenge		  
Torsten wrote:
Also, I think Rolls Royce once offered a model called Morning Mist. When they wanted to launch the car in Germany they were experiencing great difficulties -- the word mist exists in German too. However, its meaning is completely different to the English mist...

Any other examples of marketing blunders?


Hi Torsten!

Sorry, for the moment I don?t have another example for a marketing blunder. But I thought that as a Rolls Royce is well known for quality and elegance the company could advertise for German "Mist". Wink Laughing Seriously, German "Mist" is in most people?s mind something worse and worthless, but if you have a special look at German "Mist" you will see that it has really fine characters. For example, Dutch mushroom-breeders import German "Mist" as the ground for their mushrooms. Or "Mist" from horses is an excellent ground for roses. So, if Rolls Royce were able to find the connection between German "Mist" and their car they could also say: our Morning Mist makes you smell like Roses . Wink Laughing

Weren?t that a challenge?

Michael
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Marketing language blunders... #3 (permalink) Sun Jul 09, 2006 13:22 pm   Marketing language blunders...		  
Torsten wrote:
Jamie's Not so SMART discussion reminded me of an article I read about the marketing blunder Mitsubishi made in Spanish speaking countries. According to that article Mitsubishi had trouble selling their Pajero car until they realized that pajero was not the right name for a car in Spanish speaking countries.

This is not the only case. The most famous one is when General Motors tried to sell the Chevrolet Nova in Latin America, only to find that people found "no va" (doesn't go) a funny name for a car.

Toyota tried to sell a car called the MR-2 in France. Say that name in French, and you'll find it sounds like a common cuss word.

Mazda has a van in Japan called the Laputa, but I doubt they made the mistake of selling it under that name in Spanish-speaking countries.

Someone once sent me a CD that he'd packed in a bubble envelope that I think was made in Germany. Someone with bad English pronunciation had created a brand name too obscene to repeat here, but it meant "tap your scrotum", rather than indicating that the bag was recyclable, as was their intention.
Torsten wrote:
Also, I think Rolls Royce once offered a model called Morning Mist. When they wanted to launch the car in Germany they were experiencing great difficulties -- the word mist exists in German too. However, its meaning is completely different to the English mist...

It was the Silver Mist, not the Morning Mist.

Then there are the worldwide company slogans that are in Germlish. Henkel has the slogan "A brand like a friend", which is just a word-for-word translation of their German slogan, but it sounds strange and a little funny to us.
Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Marketing language blunders... #4 (permalink) Tue Jul 11, 2006 22:59 pm   Marketing language blunders...		  
Torsten wrote:
Mitsubishi had trouble selling their Pajero car until they realized that pajero was not the right name for a car in Spanish speaking countries.

Laughing

That car was renamed Mitsubishi Montero in Spain. Another car that would need a new name here is the Nissan Moco (they even have it in the right shade of green Laughing )!
Jamie (K) wrote:
Mazda has a van in Japan called the Laputa, but I doubt they made the mistake of selling it under that name in Spanish-speaking countries.

Laughing

For that same reason, every time I have to say 'put on' in my classes, I try to squeeze another word in between!
Conchita
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Joined: 26 Dec 2005
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Marketing language blunders... #5 (permalink) Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:33 am   Marketing language blunders...		  
[quote="Conchita"]
Torsten wrote:
Mitsubishi had trouble selling their Pajero car until they realized that pajero was not the right name for a car in Spanish speaking countries.
Laughing


Conchita wrote:
That car was renamed Mitsubishi Montero in Spain. Another car that would need a new name here is the Nissan Moco (they even have it in the right shade of green Laughing )!

It's also called the Montero in North America, probably for the same reason. The Nissan Moco is called the Nissan Mucus here.
Conchita wrote:
Jamie (K) wrote:
Mazda has a van in Japan called the Laputa, but I doubt they made the mistake of selling it under that name in Spanish-speaking countries.

Laughing

For that same reason, every time I have to say 'put on' in my classes, I try to squeeze another word in between!

If you would pronounce "put" correctly, with a lax /u/ instead of a tense one, you wouldn't have to worry about any confusion.
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Marketing language blunders... #6 (permalink) Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:44 pm   Marketing language blunders...		  
Jamie (K) wrote:
If you would pronounce "put" correctly, with a lax /u/ instead of a tense one, you wouldn't have to worry about any confusion.


Are you assuming I'm not pronouncing it correctly Laughing ? Anyway, I feel magnanimous today, so I forgive you Smile !

(You can be so predictable, Jamie! As I was sending my first post, I swear I was imagining a similar answer from you Smile !)

It's not a matter of confusion: even beginners will know/guess that I'm not saying the Spanish swear word or that it has nothing to do with it. But it does sound a bit like 'that' word pronounced with an English accent and it's all the funnier for it!
Conchita
Language Coach


Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2826
Location: Madrid, Spain
Marketing language blunders... #7 (permalink) Wed Jul 12, 2006 13:22 pm   Marketing language blunders...		  
Conchita wrote:
Jamie (K) wrote:
If you would pronounce "put" correctly, with a lax /u/ instead of a tense one, you wouldn't have to worry about any confusion.


Are you assuming I'm not pronouncing it correctly Laughing ? Anyway, I feel magnanimous today, so I forgive you Smile !

All I thought was that it couldn't possibly sound like the Spanish cuss word if it were pronounced right. In my brain those are two different sounds.

Thank you for forgiving me. Smile
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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