The Power Of Good SEO and Advertising Models: A Global Perspective
Translating advertising copy and slogans is not just a question of translating and transposing words into a foreign language. The skill lies in producing copy which still retains the feel of the original while appealing to the reader who may be living in a completely different cultural environment. Even photographs and illustrations can be misunderstood.
In addition every language has its own typographical style and conventions including diacritical marks, punctuation and capital letters. In some countries sales and promotional brochures and related material may require to be produced to be read from right to left or vertically instead of horizontally. There are a number of languages which have an alphabet and ways of speaking which make the reading of words in English difficult and sometime almost impossible. German-speakers find it difficult to pronounce the English letter W, as in ‘white’, ‘winter’ or ‘wood’; likewise in France where words or names starting with the English letter H as in ‘hat’, ‘horse’ or ‘hotel’ can cause problems.
This is important, particularly if potential customers or buyers cannot pronounce the name of the product they wish to buy. Not only can photographs and illustrations be misunderstood in another culture, they can transmit a completely different message from the one intended, therefore every aspect of a photograph or illustration requires to be checked before it is published in another country. There are some countries where details such as just a few small lines on a person’s face may indicate a particular clan or tribe, or an additional fold in a woman’s dress may identify a woman belonging to a particular social class or caste, in both cases
this may lead to a misinterpretation of the intended message.
Some book publishers have reported cases of how companies before the 1980s made mistakes either with text copy or illustrations when trying to promote their products in countries where a different language is spoken. Whilst some may well be amusing they can result in monetary damage to company and product.
Baby food packaging in most regions of the world usually feature images of cheerful babies together with text describing package contents. Some time ago a baby food manufacturer who was marketing his products in countries where the literacy level was low, in this instance in Africa, decided to eliminate the words and text and instead limit the package description to images of cheerful babies and illustrations of contents. Unfortunately sales did not do well, as potential buyers in these countries would not purchase products which were perceived by them as containing powdered babies.
A company wishing to advertise their prestigious products in the Middle East illustrated its promotion brochure with a photograph of the armless statue of the Venus de Milo. The promotional literature was withdrawn, just in time, because in some Middle Eastern countries a severed hand or arm denotes a punished thief. The advertisement of another exporter to a middle eastern country showed an illustration of women who were, unbeknown to him, promiscuous and this nearly led him into the local law court for publishing obscene literature.
Pepsi, a well-known American soft drinks company launched their products in China under the slogan ‘Come alive with the Pepsi generation’, when the slogan was (literally) translated into Chinese it read: ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life’. When this American slogan was initially translated into German it read: ‘Come out of the grave with Pepsi’. Another soft drinks company had their brand name translated into Mandarin Chinese and while the translation was phonetically accurate it was subsequently found that its literal translation changed its meaning to ‘a female horse fattened with wax’. A street trader in Vietnam sold packs of tiny plastic animals which were labelled with the following warning for parents: ‘Be careful of being eaten by small children.’
During a car test marketing campaign in Saudi Arabia the phrase ‘unbridled power’ was translated from the English text into Arabic and then printed to accompany a picture of galloping horses. This was understood by some potential local buyers to mean ‘a horse you cannot stop’ and by others ‘a car without breaks’. Several years ago a European food company made the mistake of promoting their spaghetti sauce in Japan with the promise that its flavour was genuine Italian — this was a meaningless appeal to many Japanese who could scarcely find Italy on a map. A car manufacturer intended to use the name Caprino to launch a new sports coupe. Just prior to the launch day it was pointed out that this meant goat’s dung in some of the languages of the more important Mediterranean markets. This resulted in the name being changed to Capri.
When the McDonald Corporation developed its operation in France, its Big Mac slogan was pronounced as ‘Gros Mac’ by the French, which is a slang expression for a big pimp. The name was quickly abandoned. Other book publishing companies have moved equally as fast to secure effective advertising.
Care should be taken with composing mottos and logos, which are sometimes known as the strapline. Electrolux, the Swedish manufacturer of vacuum cleaners used the slogan ‘Nothing sucks like an Electrolux’. This was most effective in promoting its products in European markets. When they used the same slogan to launch their products in the United States, they were made aware that the word ‘sucks’ means ‘is very bad’. Sometimes a word has a very different meaning in two different languages. Silver Mist was the brand name given to a range of conservatories or domestic greenhouses, where plants are grown. In the English context the word ‘mist’ might imply something associated with weather or nature, or related to the country, however when advertising the product with the same words in Germany it immediately created the impression that they were trying to sell a new type of outdoor lavatory, since the German translation of the word ‘mist’ is dung or manure.
Historically, in their teachings, some of the Western religions have used the naked and semi-naked human form to illustrate subjects or themes, and in the Western world the use of the human form in advertising, is nowadays accepted as normal. Many other cultures however, consider public display of female thighs and cleavages and in particular semi-nakedness as blasphemous and insulting and its use for advertising purposes would be considered by them, not only inappropriate but visually offensive and therefore subject to censorship.
Whether sales brochures and mail order catalogues for promotional use in some countries can or cannot include particular illustrations and pictures needs to be carefully investigated, if they are to reach their target audience. Representation of the human form, or certain animals and birds may, for religious reasons, be disapproved of, as may for example wine or beer glasses for alcoholic beverages, representation of the Christian cross, pictures of the clergy, monks and nuns, or the Star of David.
Means and ways of advertising vary greatly between countries. Some permit all means and ways while others permit only a few. The medium used for advertising can include — newspapers and magazines, radio, television, the internet, telephones, mobile phones and other hand-held devices, posters, billboards, illuminated advertising on buildings and freestanding sites, sandwich boards (carried a person who walks the streets and displaying posters on a solid board carried on his back and/or front), inside and outside public and private transport vehicles such as trains, buses and taxis, river and sea-going vessels, aircraft, airships and balloons; mobile advertising vans; mobile loudspeaker vans and sky-writing.
It also includes advertising in cinemas using films and cartoons. Video films including those for private viewing sometimes also carry advertising material.
book publishers
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