18 Oct

Geely. It rhymes with really bad.

One urban marketing myth tells that when Chevy tried introducing the Nova to their Spanish speaking consumers, it "didn't go" over too well. No va, in Spanish, means "no go." I'm not sure why a massive, exploding body like a nova is a more appropriate image to relate to a car, but whatever. Another urban marketing myth - this time in Africa: Gerber tried using the same packaging it uses in the States. Unfortunately, standard packaging custom in Africa was to put a picture on the outside of the jar of whatever was on the inside of the jar. The "savages" were horrified. But, mmmm...baby never tasted so good. This IHT-NYT article concerns Chinese auto manufacturers looking to tap into the U.S. market. They would do well to take a page out of the Joseph Campbell playbook. Study our mythology. There is no way in hell an American consumer is going to buy a car named after the Bennifer Stupernova. Hey, Geely! Here's some free advice: you're going to have to change your name.

One Comment

  1. 1 October 18, 2006 at 12:39 pm
    Permalink

    OK. I now see how many times this joke was made back in January. My favorite thread is at the fordsix.com forum.

    ” ‘Jennifer’ [J-Lo] may be hard on the Chinese tongue. What about renaming her ‘Gwei-Lo?’” - addo

    “[If it were] named ‘Gigli,’ its back end would have to be MUCH BIGGER.” - Boyd

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