8 Funniest Foreign Ad Translation Mistakes

Ganesha Lufthansa
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

“Be sure to always double check!”

Advertising is one of the ways for a brand to promote itself. Effective advertisements can surely help a brand’s growth in sales. But, an ad can surely scar a brand’s reputation if it’s poorly translated.

Here are the 8 Funniest Foreign Ad Translation Mistakes Ever Made.

1. KFC

Image Source: livetranslation

Originally “Finger licking good,” but then mistakenly translated to “We’ll eat your fingers off!” in China.

2. Perdue Chicken

Originally “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken,” but then mistakenly translated to “It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused.” and “It takes a virile man to make a chicken pregnant.” in Mexico.

3. Braniff Airlines

Originally “Fly in leather,” but then mistakenly translated to “Fly naked.” in Spanish.

4. Coors Beer

Formerly “Turn it loose”, but then mistakenly translated to “Suffer from diarrhea” in Spanish.

Related: Heineken Win Customer Heart with a Bottle of Beer

5. Ford

Originally “Every car has a high-quality body”, but then mistakenly translated to “Every car has a high-quality corpse” in Belgium.

6. Green Giant

Image Source: tellwut

Originally “The Jolly Green Giant” but then mistakenly translated to “Intimidating Green Monster” in Arabic.

7. Parker Pens

Originally “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”, but then mistakenly translated to “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant” in Mexico.

8. Pepsi

Initially “Come alive with Pepsi!” but then mistakenly translated to “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead” in Chinese.

Jokes aside, these advertisements serve as great examples for many brands. English is not the only language in the world, so advertisers need to be more careful when translating English phrases into other languages, so they won’t make silly mistakes or even offend anyone.

Related: The Great Things From Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad Issue

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