BRANDS LOST IN TRANSLATIONS

Think for a while, what would happen when leading company’s brands suffer from the major faux pas in the translation of their slogans? Humdrum! Well, this embarrassment hit the Pepsi back in the 1960s. Pepsi is a leading brand of PepsiCo and gained speedy success when embarked on the Chinese market more than 30 years ago.

The proven track record of its success came from the drug store where it was sold in 1893 with the annual sale of 15-million-dollar, created the buzz among the rivals of the PepsiCo. It was like an icing on the cake when people picked up the Pepsi in terms of better taste rather than Coca Cola. So, how this renowned company could commit such a big blunder! It was the time between 1964 and 1967 when Pepsi came with the eye catchy phrase that was  ‘Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation’. The slogan has knocked the door of its target countries, enlightening their taste buds.

People in charge of it turned the blind eye to the translations of that phrase in the different dialects. Rather than the proposed ‘Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation’ motto they rather interpreted it into a cringe worthy ‘Pepsi Brings Back Your Ancestors from the Dead!’ In simple terms, the soul of meaning was changed completely otiose and invective. Fall of company’s byword, could Michael Jackson have subliminally been forwarding his Thriller album, when he was about to shoot a commercial with Pepsi in 1984 which inopportunely led to his blood-curdling accident? No pun intended. Nevertheless, PepsiCo neither affirmed nor repudiated that this occurred as there is no strong evidence but the fact of the matter is, they were enjoying the media attention that they were receiving.  

Might be they were on the footsteps of their rival Coca Cola? There were insinuations that Coca Cola too had encountered the translation blunders when they entered the Chinese market with their phrase ‘ko-ka-ko-la’ which clearly implies‘ bite the wax tadpole’ among other things and there is also no evidence in support of this. There was a time when Pepsi reliant over the American market, could have committed this blunder when inflating their brand in the target areas but it is likely that such an internationally recognized brand could not give such excuses. One cannot overlook these major faux pas as it earns you bad repertoire with the low ranking.(TRANSLATION SERVICES IN NEW YORK).