Translation Blunder of the Month

The American Dairy Association’s huge success with its “Got Milk?” campaign was unfortunately not mirrored in the Spanish-speaking market, where it translated to “Are you lactating?”

Luckily enough for the California Milk Processor Board, this slip up was detected early. This allowed them to create a separate and unique advertising campaign in the Spanish language, the tagline for which was initially introduced as “Familia, Amor y Leche” (Family, Love and Milk) when it was established that a traditional approach focusing on family values was going to be key.

The “Got Milk?” pitch could inevitably have had disastrous consequences if this cultural blunder had slipped through the net, especially given the significant growth of the Latino community in America in recent years.

Make sure that your campaign doesn’t isolate any important foreign markets and drop us an email at team@atlas-translations.co.uk. Alternatively please feel free to give us a call on +44(0) 1727 812725 and one of our Project Managers will be more than happy to discuss your requirements.