in addition to the Chevy Nova ('no va' means 'it doesn't go' in Spanish), here are a few other branding mistakes I've heard about:
1.) East coasters among us will remember Wise potato chips, which predated Lay's by over a decade & used to come in a bag somewhat greener than this image...
...but when they expanded into SE Asia their sales were pratically zero, because no one told them that in local Malay & Indondesian culture the owl & the color green were both considered harbingers of Death.
2.) On the flip side, Coca Cola first tried to launch a major marketing campaign in China during the time that their main slogan was "Coke Adds Life". Unfortunately they apparently only checked the dictionary & not someone conversant in colloquial meanings, because the characters they chose - while literally meaning "Coke Adds Life" - much more strongly connoted "Coke Will Resurrect Your Ancestors".
3.) Back to Mexico, much more recently the 'Got Milk?' campaign went south of the border, but again the dictionary translation - 'Tienes Leche?' is a phrase that doesn't quite mean what you think it does. In fact this is only used when one is asking a new mother, 'Are You Lactating?'
