Ignorance isn't always bliss:

[Topanga_Blue]

Shop pulls "Lolita" bed for young girls

LONDON (Reuters) - A chain of retail stores in Britain has withdrawn the sale of beds named Lolita and designed for six-year-old girls after furious parents pointed out that the name was synonymous with sexually active pre-teens.

Woolworths said staff who administer the web site selling the beds were not aware of the connection.

Full Article

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How could anyone in this day and age not know what Lolita means?

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Shop pulls "Lolita" bed for young girls

LONDON (Reuters) - A chain of retail stores in Britain has withdrawn the sale of beds named Lolita and designed for six-year-old girls after furious parents pointed out that the name was synonymous with sexually active pre-teens.

Woolworths said staff who administer the web site selling the beds were not aware of the connection.

Full Article

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How could anyone in this day and age not know what Lolita means?

Just as easily as people who can't find Australia on a map, or have no idea who Winston Churchill was.

 

[3113]

Makes you want to scream: "Read a book!"

 

[rgraham666]

Wow! Tragedy and comedy in a single news article.

 

[glynndah]

Perhaps the same marketing geniuses who gave us Amelia Earhart luggage and Old Yeller dog food.

 

[DesertPirate]

Perhaps the same marketing geniuses who gave us Amelia Earhart luggage and Old Yeller dog food.

ROFLMAO at the first and sad at the second
Marketwits are the antithesis of common sense aren't they?

 

[rgraham666]

"Trying to teach an marketing person social responsibility is like trying to tell an eight year old sexual intercourse is more fun than ice cream." A little witticism I heard from a marketing person many years ago.

 

[starrkers]

There are times I think someone in marketig gets bored and comes up with these things as a gag, expecting them to get vetoed ... and they don't.

Like the bloke who wrote the daily light hearted column in the paper I worked on. The column had to be OKed by the editor in chief before going in.

One day he added a joke "what's grey and comes in litres? Elephants." fully expecting the boss to delete it. Instead he let it go, not understanding the gag. The subs desk did, but also let it go (with a certain level of malicious glee). We were bastards like that

 

[Weird Harold]

Woolworths said staff who administer the web site selling the beds were not aware of the connection.
...
How could anyone in this day and age not know what Lolita means?

Perhaps they don't speak English very well? A lot of corporate web-design is outsourced to India, Korea, and Indonesia. Still, a simple (non-censored) web-search should turn up enough sex sites and malware to let even a non-english speaker know that it's not a word that they want people searcing on to find a product.

 

[oggbashan]

British Leyland cars when producing the publicity brochure for the then new Morris Marina had a picture of the car with the caption "Beauty with brains behind it".

Unfortunately the car was standing in front of a field of sheep.

The brochure had to be withdrawn, the sheep air-brushed out, and then re-issued.

The Marina was such a dire car that the sheep might have done better...

Og

 

[Topanga_Blue]

British Leyland cars when producing the publicity brochure for the then new Morris Marina had a picture of the car with the caption "Beauty with brains behind it".

Unfortunately the car was standing in front of a field of sheep.

The brochure had to be withdrawn, the sheep air-brushed out, and then re-issued.

The Marina was such a dire car that the sheep might have done better...

Og

Marina? Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't a marina where you would find boats, not cars?

What's next? The Leyland Hangar? Maybe they could let the cows have a turn.

 

[matriarch]

Perhaps they don't speak English very well? A lot of corporate web-design is outsourced to India, Korea, and Indonesia. Still, a simple (non-censored) web-search should turn up enough sex sites and malware to let even a non-english speaker know that it's not a word that they want people searcing on to find a product.

It was Woolworths.
If you've ever been in a Woolies store in the UK the whole thing makes perfect sense.

 

[Topanga_Blue]

Perhaps they don't speak English very well? A lot of corporate web-design is outsourced to India, Korea, and Indonesia. Still, a simple (non-censored) web-search should turn up enough sex sites and malware to let even a non-english speaker know that it's not a word that they want people searcing on to find a product.

Ah the joys of a global economy. At least it's entertaining.

 

[Topanga_Blue]

Perhaps the same marketing geniuses who gave us Amelia Earhart luggage and Old Yeller dog food.

Old Yeller... sold at Walmart. Kinda says it all right there, don't it.

 

[Topanga_Blue]

It was Woolworths.
If you've ever been in a Woolies store in the UK the whole thing makes perfect sense.

Wollies. Never heard that nickname before.

We used to have them here but I haven;t seen one in probablly 15 years or so. Not even sure if they're still about in the US. Target and Walmark beat them into submission.

 

[oggbashan]

Marina? Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't a marina where you would find boats, not cars?

What's next? The Leyland Hangar? Maybe they could let the cows have a turn.

I think that the idea was that Marina would be associated with people who owned yachts.

Car names can be unfortunate. Vauxhall produced a Nova which caused amusement in Spanish speaking countries. Even Rolls Royce could err. One of their models had a name which was rude in German.

The Hillman Avenger was a competitor for the Morris Marina. Both were basic family saloons of little merit. At least the Avenger sounded better but what Hillman was "avenging" was never clear unless it was their revenge on the long suffering British motorist.

Manufacturers' internal code names for new designs could be even weirder. The Ford Mark 2 Escort was known as "Brenda". Austin cars were known as ADO followed by a number such as 16 with ADO standing for "Austin Design Office". Critics complained that the term "Austin Design Office" was a contradiction just like "Military Intelligence". Did either exist?

Og

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Hahaha... Originally EXXON was named ENCO. They couldn't sell anything in Japan because that word refers to a "Stalled Car" in Japanese. Hence the name change.

 

[TxRad]

Hahaha... Originally EXXON was named ENCO. They couldn't sell anything in Japan because that word refers to a "Stalled Car" in Japanese. Hence the name change.

Actually the change to EXXON was truth in advertising. They put the double cross in. XX

 

[Weird Harold]

It was Woolworths.
If you've ever been in a Woolies store in the UK the whole thing makes perfect sense.

I have been, but not for 35 years -- the last Woolworth's I was in was one of the last US stores.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I think that the idea was that Marina would be associated with people who owned yachts.

Car names can be unfortunate. Vauxhall produced a Nova which caused amusement in Spanish speaking countries. Even Rolls Royce could err. One of their models had a name which was rude in German.
<snip>

I'm seeing a sleek little thing from Chrysler on the freeways, called a "Crossfire".

Makes me want to duck for safety, every time.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm seeing a sleek little thing from Chrysler on the freeways, called a "Crossfire".

Makes me want to duck for safety, every time.

That's my reaction when I see a Jaguar or a Beamer coming. It's my experience that they have the worst drivers.

 

[glynndah]

Old Yeller... sold at Walmart. Kinda says it all right there, don't it.

Ol' Roy is sold at WalMart. Old Yeller is Kroger's brand. They must have some sort of connection through Disney because they have a cat food with the same cat that appeared in their movie "That Darned Cat" but I don't think that's the name of their cat food, although every cat owner could probably relate quite well to the name. Ol' Roy is the only dog food my dog and the chickens really like. My cats will eat any kind as long as there's a picture of a cat on the label. They were very suspicious of the George Jones cat food and refused to eat it.

 

[oggbashan]

I'm seeing a sleek little thing from Chrysler on the freeways, called a "Crossfire".

Makes me want to duck for safety, every time.

Sounds like the euphemism "Blue on Blue" for attacks by friendly forces. Unfortunately it is still happening in Afghanistan. "Crossfire" could mean being fired at by the Taleban and the Nato forces.

Og

 

[cloudy]

When Chevy decided to import the Nova into Mexico back in the 70's (it was one of their better selling models), the cars just sat on the lot.

Dumbasses....."No va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish.

 

[oggbashan]

Toyota's sports car, the MR2, had to be renamed in France:

I quote from Wikipedia:

"When said in French, the name MR2 [ɛm ɛʀ ˈdø] sounds like est merdeux [ˈmɛʀd] (fr: is terrible, shit and hell)."

Og