These were posted to me recently
I hope you don't mind me passing them on
warmly,
Querida

 good reasons why advertising companies should hire
>anthropologists:
>
>1. 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?"
>
>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
>label 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. The Coca-Cola name in China was
>first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la", 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 "ko-kou-ko-le", translating
>into "happiness in the mouth".
>
>
>5. Reebok recently recalled the 'Incubus' shoe model. The shoe had
  been on the  market for about a year until ABC-TV 'disclosed' the
  real meaning of the word:  Incubus was a medieval demon who had
  forced sex with sleeping women.  Reebok apparently found that out
  when ABC News called.