Preface
What could go wrong?
When people think about cross-cultural marketing blunders, what usually comes to mind are the funny translation gaffs. You’ve probably come across a few of these yourself, like the list that Inc magazine published1 with examples like:
Paxam, the Iranian company, whose laundry soap was called Snow in Farsi. It wanted to launch in English-speaking countries and so translated the brand name to Barf, which appeared on all its packaging.
Nike added some styling to its shoes intended to look like a flame, but after it was released, it was noted that the graphic resembled the Arabic word for Allah and the products were recalled.
Swedish company Electrolux marketed its vacuum cleaners in the US with the tag line: ‘Nothing ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access