American Airlines: On an American Airlines packet of nuts - INSTRUCTIONS - OPEN PACKET, EAT NUTS.

Bacardi: Bacardi concocted a fruity drink with the name 'Pavian' to suggest French chic ... but 'Pavian' means 'baboon' in German.

Boots: On the label of Boot's "Children's" cough medicine - DO NOT DRIVE A CAR OR OPERATE MACHINERY.

Coca Cola: When Coca Cola was first introduced into China they named it Ke-Kou-Ke-La. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect.
Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent: Ko-Kou-Ko-Le, which can be roughly translated as "happiness in the mouth." (have you seen what it can do to teeth?).

In some countries, on the bottom of Coke bottles it says "OPEN OTHER END."

Ford: Ford seemed to have a problem in Brazil where sales of the Pinto flopped. On investigation the company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals." Ford pried the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means "horse."

Fritos: On a packet of Fritos crisps - YOU COULD BE A WINNER! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. DETAILS INSIDE.

General Motors: "Body by Fisher", boasted the auto giant General Motors. "Corpse by Fisher" was how the Belgians read it.

General Motors: When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

Gerber: When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the USA -- with a cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside since many people cannot read!

Marks and Spencer: Label on a Marks & Spencer's Bread Pudding - PRODUCT WILL BE HOT AFTER HEATING.

Nytol: On the label of their sleeping aid - WARNING MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS.

Parker Pens: Parker Pens translated the slogan for its ink, "Avoid Embarassment - Use Quink" into Spanish as "Evite Embarazos - Use Quink" ... which also means "Avoid Pregnancy - Use Quink."

Parker Pens: When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarass you." However, the company mistakenly thought the spanish word embarazar meant "embarass." Instead, the ads said that "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!"

Pepsi: Not to be outdone by Coke when Pepsi started a marketing campaign in Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead."


Rowenta: On packaging for a Rowenta iron - DO NOT IRON CLOTHES ON BODY.

Sainsbury: On a packet of their peanuts - WARNING - CONTAINS NUTS.

Sears: On a Sears hairdryer - DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING.

Sunmaid: On a packet of Sunmaid raisins - WHY NOT TRY TOSSING OVER YOUR FAVOURITE BREAKFAST CEREAL?

Tesco: On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom of the box) - DO NOT TURN UPSIDE DOWN.

Miscellaneous: A famous drug company marketed a new remedy in the United Arab Emirates. To avoid any mistakes they used pictures. The first picture was of someone ill, the next picture showed the person taking the medication, the last picture showed them looking well. What they forgot is that in the Arab world people read from right to left!