...

Trivia: 8 Funniest Foreign Ad Translation Mistakes

DATE
READING DURATION
5 Mins
SHARE

“Be sure to always double check!”

Advertising is one of the ways for a brand to promote itself. Effective advertisements can surely help a brand’s growth in sales. But, an ad can surely scar a brand’s reputation if it’s poorly translated.

Here are the 8 Funniest Foreign Ad Translation Mistakes Ever Made.

1. KFC

Trivia-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Image Source: livetranslation

Originally “Finger licking good,” but then mistakenly translated to “We’ll eat your fingers off!” in China.

2. Perdue Chicken

Perdue-Chicken-Brand-Dreambox-Rebranding-Agency-Branding-Consultant-Indonesia-Jakarta

Originally “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken,” but then mistakenly translated to “It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused.” and “It takes a virile man to make a chicken pregnant.” in Mexico.

3. Braniff Airlines

Braniff-Airlines-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Originally “Fly in leather,” but then mistakenly translated to “Fly naked.” in Spanish.

4. Coors Beer

Coors-Beer-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Formerly “Turn it loose”, but then mistakenly translated to “Suffer from diarrhea” in Spanish.

Related: Heineken Win Customer Heart with a Bottle of Beer

5. Ford

Ford-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Originally “Every car has a high-quality body”, but then mistakenly translated to “Every car has a high-quality corpse” in Belgium.

6. Green Giant

Green-Giant-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Image Source: tellwut

Originally “The Jolly Green Giant” but then mistakenly translated to “Intimidating Green Monster” in Arabic.

7. Parker Pens

Parker-Pens-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Originally “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”, but then mistakenly translated to “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant” in Mexico.

8. Pepsi

Pepsi-Branding-Consultant-Jakarta-Indonesia-Rebranding-Agency-Singapore

Initially “Come alive with Pepsi!” but then mistakenly translated to “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead” in Chinese.

Jokes aside, these advertisements serve as great examples for many brands. English is not the only language in the world, so advertisers need to be more careful when translating English phrases into other languages, so they won’t make silly mistakes or even offend anyone.

Related: The Great Things From Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad Issue

Looking for more articles about brand and branding? Click here.

RELATED BLOG

Find Similar Blog

Contact Us

Blank Form (#3)
Contact Us fluent_forms