Re: HUMOUR: interesting tidbits from the marketing world

> [snip]
> Some food for thought:
>
> I don't really understand the problem. It _is_ a fairly common
> practice to put a picture of the contents on the can. Here in the US
> as well. Kellogg's Corn Flakes have corn flakes; Libby's Fruit
> Cocktail has fruits; Weis's Natural Tomatoes has tomatoes; Spam has
> Spam; Richfood carrots has carrots; Weis mixed veg. has various cut
> vegetables; Weis grape jelly has grapes. It's never even _occurred_
to
> me or any one else I've ever come in contact with that Gerber's would
> contain 100% strained baby.
>
> There's probably a better reason for these low sales in Africa.
> Perhaps a market study would have been in order? How long do they
> breast feed? (Some cultures breast feed for 2 or 3 years.) Do they
> make special food for toddlers at home regardless of what's
> commercially available? Would they feed special goop to their babies
> if it were available? Sounds more like someone didn't do their job
> right!
Hear, hear!  Many stories of cultural confusion like this are skewed at
best, and just plain wrong at worst.  For example, the "Nova" story
sounds good on paper, but most Spanish speakers I've talked to didn't
immediately recognize the connection between "nova" and "no va," and if
they did it wouldn't be a big deterrent to buying a car.  The connection
would seem more like a joke than a serious concern.

Jesse S. Bangs  jaspax@u.washington.edu