Lost in translation in advertising - Pepsi bringing the dead back to life

If you have ever worked in advertising or marketing or copyrighting advertisements, you are likely to have heard marketing disaster stories about products whose names sounded wrong when translated, or not translated.

The one mistake many people remember is the Pepsi slogan. The English version reads: brings you back to life. Translated into Chinese, it reads: Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead.

My other favourite is slogan that it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken. The translation was: It takes a sexually excited man to make a chicken affectionate.

For your amusement here are some more.

Useful Websites
https://www.face
book.com/groups/linguisticcoincidences/?multi_permalinks=2343850812299290&notif_id=1532912113256609&notif_t=group_highlights

https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-20-worst-brand-translations-of-all-time.html

https://blog.printsome.com/marketing-fails-wrong-translations/

Author
Angela Lansbury
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