Advertising All over the World

Companies are eager to sell their products all over the world, so they advertise them internationally. But it is difficult to create global advertising without taking cultural and language differences into consideration.  For example, the Japanese drink, "Calpis" is sold in the US as "Calpico" because "Calpis" sounds like "cow piss".

Read about some other examples in "Advertising Slogans Gone Wrong …" http://english-zone.com/language/ads.html and post a comment about this topic.

In writing new ads, global advertisers need to pay attention to cultural differences.  In some countries such as US. UK, and Germany, ads describe the product and explain why it is better than the others.  But in other countries such as Japan, ads create a positive feeling about the product.  As a result, celebrities often appear in Japanese advertisements. 

The topic for your second essay is a TV commercial you love most.  First choose your favorite TV commercial from YouTube  http://www.youtube.com/ and link it to our blog.  Then describe the commercial, what message the producer is trying to convey to the audience, what feature impresses you most and if it shows your cultural features.