Multicultural Marketing Mishaps

   Last Saturday I mentioned (in A random thought about Global Marketing & the Applied Arts) that “when I consider (Global Marketing & the Applied Arts) combined I tend to think of some of the magnificence brought to my attention over the years by Clio award winners and international commercial faux pas’”. And that “I’ll assuredly pick up on the latter in some other post”.
   Well, here it is. Now with two links to such collections I’m waiting for other cultures to get skewered besides the Asians. Also, I’d love to see the reverse of this; collections where English was mishandled (Engrish has an “Engrish from Other Countries” section, but its just a section).

   Having taught this material specifically (the larger topic, not just the funny stuff) I’m well aware of, and have collected quite a few examples of the alternatives I’ve mentioned. Still, it would be great to see more sites spring up to archive them as well.

   Naturally, the lesson is obvious: do your homework. If it’s not your native tongue a machine translation might float you with a pen pal, but if you’re spending real money marketing ask a native speaker.

   Meanwhile, enjoy a productive waste of time here:

http://engrish.com/

http://engrishfunny.com/