Epic Ethnic Marketing McFail

No, it's not a new version of Lorem Ipsum — it's a billboard supposedly written in the Hmong language that McDonald's placed in St. Paul, Minnesota, to reach the sizeable local Hmong population. (The language unusually, for East Asia, uses a Romanized alphabet.)

Unfortunately, as I learned from AdFreak's David Gianatasio, the agency (Arnold Bloomington) failed to accurately translate the headline. 

It was supposed to read "Coffee gets you up, breakfast gets you going." David quotes Thai Lee, a local doctor, who told the St. Paul Pioneer Press "as it stands right now, it doesn't make sense at all."

Apparently, the wording of the ad was awkward and is a run-on sentence, missing key word breaks.

Dr. Lee added, "Chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity are already a major health concern in the Hmong community. Most of this is attributed to the changing Westernized eating behaviors that Hmong people have adapted to." He also mentioned that coffee is not really part of Hmong culture.

In the same article, Kelli Bovin, vice president of management for Arnold Advertising in Bloomington told Pioneer Press"This is the first time that McDonald's anywhere in the country has advertised in Hmong. We looked at all of the ethnic groups in the Twin Cities and talked about the Hmong consumer and wanted to make sure we were communicating effectively with them." 

McFail.

F'd Ad Fridays: Soup For Sluts

Slutwalk Toronto shared this packaging on their Facebook wall:

I did a little googling, and it is real. (And, I assume, cheap, fast and easy.)

You can buy it online at Neatoshop.

F'd Ad Fridays: Scarlett and... Reet?

Perhaps it works if you say his name in a German accent.

Frankly, I don't give a damn.

Agency: Glow, Berlin

via I Believe in Advertising

LG "massaging" ads give unintentional happy endings

Working on national accounts in an officially bilingual country, I deal with linguistic and cultural adaptation of ads every day. So I'm always annoyed when international agencies working on global accounts can't be bothered to check their English when they translate their ads for worldwide sharing and award consideration.

This gaffe, by Media Marquee in Cairo, is particularly hilarious to a filthy mind like mine.

The combination of the typo in the headline — "Massaging should be as fun as your friends" — with a talk bubble animation that looks like homuncular sperm makes me think that this phone gives happy endings.

Perhaps it just has one hell of a vibration mode...

(Campaign via I Believe in Advertising)

No translation without adaptation

I go to Ads of The World daily to catch the latest in creative and meaningful international ads.

But as an anglophone, I am bothered by two things.

One is that the international agencies don't think their ads will be appreciated without being translated into English in layout (rather than with an explanation beneath).

The other is that they do such a TERRIBLE JOB of writing English versions of their headlines.

These ads from Mccann Erickson Argentina are a perfect example. Cute concept, finely-tuned execution, and a headline that looks like it was spit out by Google Translate.

You're telling me that these hombres at Mcann couldn't just send one e-mail to their pals in NYC, and at least get something like "Children with disabilities want to go to school just as much as any other kid" (which, I assume, is what they meant).

I guess I'm particularly sensitive to this because my work for the Canadian government, and national NGOs and associations, has to work in more than one language. And when we go from English to French — or Inuktut for that matter — we always hire a real Copywriter to adapt the cultural idea behind the concept to his or her native tongue.

Call me. Seriously.

Perso nella traduzione

I recently stumbled upon this strongly-worded, if somewhat insensitive, ad from Italy on Ads of the World:



Why is it in English? Because agencies around the world long ago realized that to be understood (and blogged about) internationally, you need to put English versions online.

However, that is no guarantee that the ads will be reproduced in good English.

The body copy of this ad reads:

"According to many scientific researches people who smoke have an higher chance to die young

On the 31st of May, the World No Tobacco Day, the Mayor of Nettuno invites all the smokers to stop before it's too late"

But at least we can all "get" the ad. The real problem creeps in when the concept itself does not translate:




Well... okay then. I would have though pension and care would be considered good things when you get old.

The ads are by an agency called Link in Rome, for the nearby City of Nettuno.

If anyone can locate the original ads in Italian, I would be most grateful...