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My favorites are the attempted launch of Irish Mist in Germany ( Mist= shit or slurry), the Nissan Pajero jeep in Spain ( Wanker in penisular Spanish, the market research was done in SA where it doesn't have that meaning)... I could go on but I have a flight to Germany with Mr Wilder in about 7 hours. Oh well, I'll just bring them a bottle of Gift parfum.
Myths myths myths. Chevy Nova = false, and doesn't the "mist in Germany" myth go like this: "Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick,” a curling iron, into Germany. Mist is slang for manure ...not many people had much use for a manure stick."Pizza Hat is Pizza hut in Germany and doing just fine thank you.
The AMC Matador (1971-78), subject of auto-name apocrypha (they say its Mexico launch was a flop, matador meaning "killer" or "killing" in Spanish) was simply a re-badged AMC Rebel (1967-70); the Rebel name it replaced was itself a hot potato during the wildest years of the Civil Rights Movement.
None of this stopped the LAPD from driving Matadors all through the Seventies. I'm sure they would've cottoned to either name.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
