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When Coke launched
in China they naturally wanted to retain the 'Coca-Cola' name. There
first attempt in Chinese was 'Ke-kou-ke-la' which had the benefit
of sounding similar, but unfortunately meant "bite the wax
tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" depending
on the dialect.
Coke's second
brand naming attempt was more effective, using a different set of
characters to present "ko-kou-ko-le," which can be loosely
translated as "happiness in the mouth."
Coke isn't the
only company to have problems in brand naming in new markets:
In Taiwan, the
translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi
Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors
back from the dead."
Also in Chinese,
the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good"
came out as "eat your fingers off."
And there have
been disasters in other markets too
When General
Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently
unaware that "no va" means "it won't go."
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Source:
www.buildingbrands.com
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