Article: “Cultural Blunder: Brands Gone Wrong”

1. What are the examples of cultural blunder?

- KFC used chickens raised in China not knowing that they feed their chickens fish
and because of that, their fried chickens didn't taste the same as in other
countries.
- The brand Gerbert, a Nestle brand that sells baby food, was introduced in Africa
with a baby as their logo not knowing that most of the people there could not read
and that other brands use pictures of what their product is on the packaging.
- The Coors Brewing Company mistranslated their slogan “Turn it loose” to
“Suffer from diarrhea” in Spanish
2. What do you think are the causes of these blunders?
The lack of research, understanding of cultures and a proper translator caused these
blunders. With proper research, companies could have easily avoided these cultural
blunders. They would've known that most people in Africa cannot read or that the
Chinese feed their chicken fish so it would taste different. They also use unreliable
sources such as the internet to translate their brand names and slogans. Just like the
company KFC, they mistranslated their slogan “finger-likin’ good” to “Eat your fingers
off”. Without hiring a proper translator, the companies didn’t know that some words in
their language are slang for something in that country and it damages their brand.
3. How do you think blunders affect communication?
Blunders create miscommunication between the consumers and the seller or the brand.
While the brand is trying to communicate something to the consumers about their
products or services, blunders such as mistranslation or conveying something
unacceptable in their culture creates confusion between the consumers. Because of these
blunders, companies cannot fully express their message or market their products to the
consumers thus damaging their brand.
4. What are the ways to avoid these blunders?
Researching, hiring professionals translators, and understanding the culture of a country
are ways to avoid these kinds of blunders. By researching, they could easily gain
information about that certain country so that they could successfully launch their brand
there. They would know the culture of that country, what they should avoid and what
they should focus on such as their values and beliefs. By talking to professionals, they
would avoid the mistakes of mistranslating and unintentionally convey a message that
they don’t mean to.