Life in Advertising

The "I" in team...

Birds with arms

Ok, so the technical production is a little suspect but this concept is hilariously executed.

The magic button

It's what we all want — to make everything ok.

Hahn Super Dry - super goes in

Ninja education

[via]

Bachmann Hotels - spectacular service

Revealing commercial

A young Japanese man is putting the moves on a pretty young Japanese girl when they're confronted by a barking dog...

It's all about keepin' it real

Mr. Tea

Honest logos

Some humorous logo parodies but many of them are pretty much the truth.

Office Coffee Etiquette

Bent

Some wire transform these everyday objects into hilarious works of art.

The difference between Marketing, PR, Advertising and Branding

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How do you like your graphic design?

[Via]

Do not underestimate the power of the Dark side...

Kids are the best aren't they?

Second base

A friend of mine posted on FB that the TSA now has his *ahem* privates on file and one of the responses was a link to this T-shirt. It made me laugh.

Super Delicious Ingredient Force: Episode 4 "Bland Bombs Away"

more SDIF can be watched here.

The future of Starbucks

a funny graphic speaking to the future evolution of the Starbucks logo

Super creepy iPhone charger...

Lost in Translation

Language can be a very funny thing. Having parents who are immigrants I've heard many-a-story about moments when they were utterly confused by some slang term or vernacular language that was misconstrued or completely lost on them. Advertising is no different and hilarity can result from someone not doing their research. Here's a baker's dozen worth of examples:

1. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.
2. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.
3. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.
4. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
5. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick."
6. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux."
7. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
8. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken," was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."
9. The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are You Lactating?"
10. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the Wax Tadpole" or "Female Horse Stuffed with Wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokoukole", translating into "Happiness in the Mouth."
11. General Motors had a very famous fiasco in trying to market the Nova car in Central and South America. "No va" in Spanish means, "It Doesn't Go".
12. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.
13. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).