Also in Spain, Vauxhall motors tried to sell the Nova model which was popular in the UK.
... until someone local pointed out that 'nova' means 'doesn't go' in Spanish (roughly).
... until someone local pointed out that 'nova' means 'doesn't go' in Spanish (roughly).
Once it was put on a mouse mat, they pulled it pretty quickly.
The logo:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hVfE2qcyzXU/TMrokymnKiI/AAAAAAAAA4I/PN...
The UK's Telegraph covered it pretty well:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1901656/OGC-unveils-new-logo...
* Mazda Laputa - 'the whore' in Spanish
* Buick LaCrosse - slang for masturbation in Canada (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3208501.stm)
* Kia Provo - nickname for the IRA (an Irish terrorist group) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21678741)
* And Ford Pinto - Brazilian slang for 'penis'
Hyundai Sonata was introduced in 1985 and was a reasonably popular model...
...until the next year someone realized that "sona ta" is a Korean expression meaning "Only a cow would ride that."
In Korean characters, the car is now spelled "Ssonata".
Laputa is not "the whore" in Spanish. "La puta" is "the whore" in Spanish, but its not pronounced the same as "Laputa" would be, and is as distinct from it as many other pairs of words (or, in this case, pairs of things where one is a word and one is a phrase) with very different meanings are in Spanish.
Good luck trying to convince women or young couples to buy a car with something not much different to "madge theprostitute" written in fancy letters on a side. Or telling your clients that drive "thebitch" is more safe, or that refill "thewhore" deposit is cheaper and there is capacity for lots of people and tools.
"Puta" is a complicated word in spanish that not always have negative connotations, but is too colloquial, never elegant, and a big minefield for non spanish speakers. In this case it almost worked... but not. Is not even funny. Is a huge and really strange marketing mistake.
Lots of words mean strange things in other languages, most of the time it's not really an issue.
The name of the German lightbulb brand Osram, sold in Poland under the same name, literally means "I will shit on it" in Polish. Doesn't seem to have impacted sales much. Occasionally kids will have a giggle.