Fried Logic

Communicating with Ethnicities – More Than Just Translating

Often when trying to reach a new market in a foreign country, businesses tend to think all they need to do is simply translate their marketing materials into the native language. However, it is not enough to only translate marketing materials – especially when the target audience are consumers.

It is imperative that businesses understand the culture of the target audience they are trying to reach – this is critical to the success of an international marketing campaign. I recently attended a conference via Businesswire entitled “Communicating with Minorities” in which understanding the culture of your target audience was a key focus from one of the most engaging speakers – Blaire Borthayre – of Hispanic Marketing Resources. While language is a huge component of culture – it is only one part of our culture. Culture encompasses holidays, customs, slang, manners, greetings, gestures, popular figures, etc.

Unlike some apparel items, not all marketing campaigns are a “one size fits all.” Below are some examples of marketing campaigns that perhaps should have taken a closer look at the culture of their target audience:

• Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron, into the German market only to find out that “mist” is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the ”manure stick.”
• When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since many people can’t read.
• Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

It is also beneficial to have a team member who is either extensively familiar or from the country of the target audience proofread the translated communication materials. Below are some examples from Blaire’s presentation of marketing campaigns that should have had taken a second look at their translated copy:

• The Dairy Association’s huge success with the campaign “Got Milk?” prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read “Are you lactating?”
• Coors put its slogan, “Turn it loose,” into Spanish, where it was read as “Suffer from diarrhea”
• An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the potato” (la papa)
• Frank Perdue’s chicken slogan, “it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken” was translated into Spanish as “it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate”
• When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, “it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” Instead, the company thought that the word “embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

So the moral of the story is that – businesses should think twice before launching an international marketing campaign with the aid of a “simple” translation – or else they might cause one of three following reactions by their target audience:

• Laugh hysterically
• Loss for respect of the company and/or product
• Anger / Offend the target audience that the business didn’t take the time to properly translate their language

In other words, businesses will arouse every type of human emotion except the one they want the most – the desire to buy their product.