When my previous company, MHD launched a new single malt named “Glenmorangie” a few years ago, many customers (mostly Chinese educated) and even the company sales representatives were having difficulties in pronouncing the brand name. I still remember the brand manager had to educate everybody how to pronounce the brand name correctly during meetings :D.
Brand manager, “Let’s pronounce the name together – ‘Glen-Morrun-Jee’.”
People, “惊..无..人..知 (Cantonese : geng mou yan ji – meaning : worry nobody knows).”
Brand manager, “NO! ‘Glen-Morrun-Jee’.”
People, “Huh? 惊无银纸? (Cantonese : geng mou ngan ji – meaning: worry no money)”
To make things worse, this particular brand manager also handled another vodka brand called “Belvedere”. So, he introduced himself as “brand manager of Glenmorangie and Belvedere”. Some Chinese customers commented, “乜话? 惊无人知比人屌 ? (Cantonese: me wa? geng mou yan ji bei yan diu? – direct translation: What? Worry nobody knows that fucked by people?” My poor ex-colleague :D.
A few years back, I was watching the Osim iGallop TVC together with one of my friends. We look at each other and said, “No wonder it’s called Obscene iGallop.”
There are many other funny brand names that we heard since young such as:
- Kanebo – means fuck your mother in Hokkien
- Proton Saga –笨蛋傻瓜 means stupid fool in Mandarin
- Toshiba –倒屎伯 means waste disposal in Cantonese
- Kickapoo - 契家婆 means mistress in Cantonese
- Goon Institute – stupid people institute??
Think twice and in many other languages when you name your brands :D.
