Branding Failures

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The Greatest Branding Failures Of All Time

Culture Failures

Brands operate on a global scale. Brand names such as Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Gillette, Adidas, Disney, Marlboro, Sony, Budweiser, Microsoft and Pepsi are now recognized across the world. The dismantling of trade barriers, combined with the rise of global communications technologies such as the Internet, has meant that companies can expand into new markets faster than ever before.

However, many companies have confused the era of globalization with an era of homogenization. If they have had success with one product in one market they have assumed they can have equal success in another. All they believe they have to do is set up a Web site in the relevant language, run an ad campaign and set up a similar distribution network. What they forget to understand is that there is more to a country than its language, currency or gross domestic product. The cultural differences between, and often within, countries can greatly affect the chances of success for a brand.

In order to succeed, brands must cater for the specific tastes of each market they enter. If these tastes change, then the brand must change also. As the bumpy ride experienced by Kellogg’s in India (the first example included in this chapter) indicates, companies which fail to accommodate and acknowledge these vast cultural differences face a long battle in replicating their success at home in other markets.

However, understanding cultural differences is not just about international markets. It is also about understanding the specific culture of the brand. When companies acquire a brand that wasn’t theirs to begin with, they can often make similar faux pas as when they move into a foreign market. However, instead of making the mistake of misinterpreting the market they misinterpret the brand. This happened when CBS acquired the guitar company Fender and when Quaker Oats bought the soft drink Snapple. Although the companies spent millions on marketing, they lost market share as they didn’t understand exactly where the market was, and what the customer wanted. As a result, in both cases, the acquisition weakened the brand.


1. Pepsi in Taiwan

In order to keep a singular identity throughout the world, many companies stick with the same marketing campaign and brand message in every country. However, this occasionally creates difficulties. For instance, in Taiwan Pepsi’s advertising slogan ‘Come alive with the Pepsi generation’ was translated as ‘Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.’


2. Schweppes Tonic Water in Italy

In Italy, a promotional campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water failed when the product name was translated as ‘Schweppes Toilet Water’. Subsequent campaigns have had better results.



3. Chevy Nova and others

Of all products, cars have had the most translation problems. When people chuckled at General Motors’ Chevy Nova in Latin America, the automotive giant was perplexed. Until, that is, someone pointed out that ‘Nova’ means ‘It doesn’t go’ in Spanish. Then there was the Mitsubishi Pajero sport utility that caused embarrassment in Spain, where ‘pajero’ is slang for ‘masturbator’. Toyota’s Fiera car proved controversial in Puerto Rico, where ‘fiera’ translates to ‘ugly old woman’. Likewise few Germans were enthusiastic about owning Rolls-Royce’s ‘Silver Animal Droppings’ car. To the English speaking world it bears the more romantic name ‘Silver Mist’. And finally, Ford didn’t have the reception they expected in Brazil when their ‘Pinto’ car flopped. Then they discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, ‘pinto’ means ‘small penis’.


4. Electrolux in the United States

Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux raised a few eyebrows in the United States when it came up with the slogan ‘Nothing sucks like an Electrolux’. It later reworked its strap line.




5. Gerber in Africa

When baby food manufacturer Gerber started to sell its products in Africa it used the same packaging as for Western markets. This packaging included a picture of a baby boy on the label. Surprised at low sales, Gerber discovered that in Africa, as most customers can’t read English, Western companies generally put pictures on the label of what’s inside.


6. Coors in Spain

Coors beer had equally bad luck in Spain with its ‘Turn it loose’ slogan. It translated as ‘You will suffer from diarrhoea’.



7. Frank Perdue’s chicken in Spain

Sticking with Spain, US food brand Frank Perdue’s chicken campaign created confusion with the strap line ‘It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken.’ In Spain this became ‘It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate.’


8. Clairol’s Mist Stick in Germany

When Clairol launched its ‘Mist Stick’ curling iron in Germany, the company apparently had no idea that ‘Mist’ was a slang term for manure. The company discovered that few women were crying out for a manure stick.


9. Parker Pens in Mexico

Parker Pens alarmed its Mexican market with ads intended to read ‘It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you’ because, in fact, the ad stated ‘It won’t leak in your pocket and impregnate you.’ The company had managed to confuse ‘embarrass’ with the Spanish verb ‘embrazar’ or ‘to impregnate’.


10. American Airlines in Mexico

When American Airlines decided to advertise the luxurious aspect of flying business class to their Mexican customers, they thought it would make sense to focus on the leather seats. They therefore used the slogan ‘fly in leather’ which, in Spanish, read ‘Vuelo en Cuero’. What the Spanish dictionary had neglected to inform them was that the phrase ‘en cuero’ is a slang term for ‘in the nude’. It soon emerged that there was little demand for mile-high naturism among Mexico’s business flyers.


11. Vicks in Germany

Vapour-rub manufacturer Vicks failed to attract much custom for its products in Germany. The problem was that ‘V’ is pronounced as an ‘F’ in German, meaning Vicks sounds like the German equivalent of the ‘f’ word.


12. Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hong Kong

KFC’s ‘finger lickin’ good’ slogan is used the world over to highlight the tastiness of the product. However, when the phrase was translated into Chinese for the Hong Kong market, it came out as ‘eat your fingers off’. Needless to say, most customers opted for the fries instead.

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