In Part 1, we covered the dos and don'ts of translating your brand message. In this second part, we explore what can happen when brands get it wrong — and the lessons every global marketer should take from these cautionary tales.

What Happens When Your Brand Message Is Delivered Incorrectly?

Imagine you work for an organisation where you have a decent image, and everyone admires you. Now, consider you are transferred to a different team abroad where people are not fluent in English. To communicate with them, you used an ordinary word-to-word translator. Unfortunately, one day, you wrote an email to your project head using that translator that turned out to be offensive in their regional language. What he understood of your message was entirely different from what you wanted to convey. Due to a poor translation lacking cultural relevance and understanding, you were thrown out of the project immediately.

The same can happen with your brand image. Just because a marketing campaign is a success story in one country does not necessarily mean it would also be a hit in global markets. In fact, such global campaigns can go far beyond offending international markets.

Epic Fails in Global Branding: When the Catch-Phrases Caught Despair

Electrolux

The Swedish home appliances company entered the US market to promote one of their vacuum cleaners with the tagline: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux." Although the sentence was grammatically correct, it also had a double entendre in American English — meaning Electrolux is good for nothing. The campaign became a cautionary tale in marketing circles worldwide.

Pepsi

One of the most famous examples of translation gone wrong is Pepsi. When the company entered the Chinese market, the translation of its marketing campaign "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" went way more literal than expected. In Chinese, the translated version of the tagline meant "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave." It wasn't only humorous but left a bad impression on a nation whose people believe in ancestor worship as part of their culture.

Perdue Chicken

American chicken company Perdue Chicken came up with a clever tagline, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," to enhance brand awareness. However, their branding strategy went wrong when they entered the Spanish market. The translated version of this message ended up something like: "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate." Neither the line made sense nor did this marketing campaign in Spain.

Coors

One of the oldest and most popular brewing companies in America, Coors has also been a victim of wrong context and translation. Their advertising team introduced a campaign with the slogan "Turn It Loose!" in the Spanish market to appeal to people having a good time while drinking their beverage. However, the direct translation in Spanish meant "Suffer from Diarrhoea!" — obviously not the message the company wanted to convey.

HSBC Bank

HSBC's tagline stateside was "Assume Nothing," which was completely fine. However, it didn't work out in the overseas market. The resulting translation in many countries was "Do Nothing," which was definitely not the message the company wanted to convey to its customers. Due to this translation error, HSBC had to spend $10 million on a rebranding campaign to fix the damage.

Key Lessons from These Brand Translation Failures

  • Never rely on literal translation for slogans and taglines. These are the most culturally loaded pieces of content you have.
  • Always use native speakers for review. A native speaker would have caught every single one of these errors before they went to market.
  • Invest in transcreation for brand-critical content. The cost of transcreation is a fraction of the cost of a rebranding campaign.
  • Test your translated content with local audiences. A small focus group can save you from a global embarrassment.
  • Cultural context matters as much as linguistic accuracy. Understanding how your message will be received culturally is just as important as getting the words right.

How Into23 Can Help

At Into23, we have helped global brands avoid these pitfalls through our specialized brand message translation and transcreation services. Our team of native linguists and cultural consultants ensures that your brand message not only translates accurately but resonates powerfully in every market you enter. Don't let a translation error become your brand's cautionary tale — partner with Into23 to protect and amplify your global brand voice.