Embarrassing names – should they be told?!
Recommend on Google+
This is a story that will never end, to the great amusement of people with a slightly immature sense of humour. I might even be describing myself. In a globalised marketplace, words, terms or phrases that make perfect sense in their own language can be unintentionally crazy, daft or rude when they cross over into other cultures.
Problems can be as mild as the problem facing Barclays, who have declined to comment on press speculation that it is planning to drop its eagle logo, amid concerns that it has possible Nazi connotations. Once when I was in the United States I had a good giggle drinking a bottle of Wanker beer. The French bank, BNP Paribas, have given up using their name when, for instance, they try to book a curry night out in London.
Today’s story is about a joint Nigerian/Russin oil and gas venture called Nigaz (pronounced “nye-gaz”). This has caused a flurry of outrage on Twitter and Facebook, although it hasn’t caused a stir in Nigeria, yet.
According to Simon Anholt, a top branding consultant who developed the National Brands Index, says such mistakes are usually “harmless”. “The fact is that whenever there is a blunder like this it delights people, it gives them something to talk about and it gives them a bright moment in what might otherwise be a dull day,” he told the BBC Network Africa programme. He admitted that it could be seen as offensive, but said it was fairly uncommon for companies to change their names. Such blunders are more common in government-run organisations, he said, “because they simply don’t have the marketing experience to check these things out properly”.
The following link to Rude Food isn’t really suitable for very young readers.
blog comments powered by Disqus
BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!
Popular Topic Tags
recession, demand, prices, price, unemployment, profit, economics, costs, investment, inflation, supply, employment, trade, competition, gdp, risk, china, debt, euro, entrepreneur, capacity, production, downturn, innovation, tutor2u, revision, pay, exports, manufacturing, confidence, profits, food, incentives, banks, strategy, globalisation, aqa, expectations, oil, csr, usa, startup, retailers, housing, productivity, sterling, supermarkets, google, economies of scale, mortgage, takeover, cash flow, advertising, quiz, leadership, property, buss4, tesco, economic growth, video, efficiency, enterprise, motivation, stakeholders, apple, deflation, corporate social responsibility, ebea, market share, airlines, pricing, taxation, slowdown, bank of england, acquisition, merger, market failure, borrowing, competitiveness, sustainability, product life cycle, interest rates, credit crunch, budget deficit, aqa business studies, facebook, twitter, aqa business, bbc, nelson thornes, philip allan updates, starbucks, philip allan, monopoly, diversification, recruitment, organic growth, stocks, training, oligopoly, starter activity, shareholders, uk economy, poverty, emerging markets, dollar, government failure, management, retailing, suppliers, buss1, marketing mix, tim harford, cpi, branding, opportunity cost, breakeven, government spending, hodder education, vat, product, customer service, eu, losses, wages, evaluation, india, external growth, wealth, environment, edexcel, location, promotion, technology, information failure, business studies revision, sources of finance, franchise, aqa gce business, elasticity, regulation, spare capacity, welfare, jobs, economic cycle, marketing, zondle, strategic direction, british airways,View all tags for the Business Blog
