5 times retail translation and localisation services failed in China

We all have heard and know of China’s importance to the world’s economy. In fact since their economic liberalisation in the late 70’s, China has been one of the fastest growing economies which has led the country to emerge as one of the top major players of global markets subsequently becoming the second biggest economy in the world today. So it makes complete sense that major companies of the western world have followed suite and have tried to gain a foothold in the country for a number of years. The first obvious issue they face is the language barrier which any professional translation agency worth their weight would be able to handle properly through their translation services.

But one other big issue they face is the sheer fact that the Chinese culture has many differences when compared to western cultures. This means that the way they market their products and services will differ from say the US market. That is why for years big businesses have been producing products and promotions specifically for the Chinese markets with the help of good Localisation services to pinpoint Chinese culture.

But this tactic has not always been seen as successful; in fact sometimes theses localisation attempts have been near disaster and some to comical effect. Some of these products and promotions backfired and were mocked amongst Chinese people. A popular Chinese fashion blogger on Weibo called ‘Gogoboi’ shared these localisation fails amongst his 5 million followers. Business Insider, with the help of a global brand consulting firm, Landor managed to compile a list of top five times global brands absolutely failed in China.

5. Nike

This is truly a case of retail translation services gone wrong when Nike had an idea to release special edition trainers with Mandarin characters sewn into the pair. On the left trainer was “Fa” which means “Getting Rich” and on the right trainer was “Fu” which translates as “Fortune arrives,” which doesn’t sound too bad. But when you put them together it means “Getting fat” definitely not what the biggest sportswear company should be promoting.

4. Louis Vuitton

The high-end fashion house Louis Vuitton is the next culprit in these localisation faux pas. Maybe with good intentions or maybe naivety decided to honour the Chinese year of the Monkey by releasing a special edition necklace, which can only be described as an odd looking, gold finished necklace vaguely resembling  a monkey. In which Gogoboi’s followers described as “creepy,” “like an alien,” and ironically a “knock-off” considering it retailed at $2,450 (£1,720). Ouch!

Image via: Louis Vuitton

3. Dior

Dior, another massive French brand of luxury goods committed a near enough exact offence as Louis Vuitton. Dior also saw fit to release a monkey-inspired piece of jewellery to celebrate the year of the monkey but the limited edition “Diorelita” was rather underwhelmingly likened to a ‘piece of red rope’, probably not the type of response Dior where looking for.

2. Givenchy

Another Chinese year of the monkey inspired product fail, another French fashion brand behind the failure. This time it is Givenchy had used images of not so much your typical chimpanzee looking monkeys but rather images of orangutans, which needless to say left Gogoboi’s followers largely unimpressed. Fail!

1. Burberry

Last but not least comes another fail celebrating the Chinese New Year, this time from up-market UK brand Burberry. They had made a different error to the rest; they decide to release their classic print scarf in a special edition with the Mandarin character “Fu” which as previously mentioned means “fortune arrives” printed in red which didn’t go down well as a design with Gogoboi’s following. But the main error was that when worn “Fu” was displayed upright which in Chinese culture “Fu” needs to be upside down to actually carry its meaning which is “beckoning in fortune.” As the special edition scarf retails $215 (£150) more at $925 (£649) that unsurprisingly left people totally bemused.