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An article in Forbes magazine reports: Nike has a television commercial for hiking shoes that was shot in Kenya using Samburu tribesmen. The camera closes in on the one tribesman who speaks, in native Maa. As he speaks, the Nike slogan "Just do it" appears on the screen Lee Cronk, an anthropologist at the University of Cincinatti, says the Kenyan is really saying, "I don't want these. Give me big shoes." Says Nike's Elizabeth Dolan, "We thought nobody in America would know what he said."
19 responses total.
If they honestly thought that, they're dumber than I imagined. (If they thought nobody would *care*, maybe ... )
That is pretty stupid. Maybe they did it to get some extra, i.e. free, publicity.
Since it makes them look so stupid, I have a strong tendency to doubt it.
Somebody say something in Maa.
We need to get Lee Kronk to log in. Maybe after we turn on incoming telnet. :-)
Something in Maa
I've heard this before, and I am still amused by it. Of course similar things happen when American companies try to translate their slogans into foreign languages. I remember a few years ago hearing that the Nova car was sent to S. America, and it wasn't doing so well, finally someone realised that no va in Spanish essentially means 'doesn't go' who's going to buy a car that means 'doesn't go'? So they took the cars back, changed the name, and sent the cars back, where they sold decently. (that has nothing to do with slogans- but I was amused by it)
Or then, coca cola, in some chinese dialect, means bite the wax tadpole. In the orient, an english name is like a status symbol for your company, so they end up with 1 heck uv o lotto funny names.
coca cola brings your ancestors back to life...
Re: say something in Maa. Sorry, the closest my reference books bring me is Hausa, which is in the same branch. How's this: Kurege Da Bushiya: -- wata rana ana ruwa: bushiya tana yawo, ta zo bakin raming kurege: ta yi sallama, ta ce 'Kai, ina jin sanyi: ko da wurin da zam fake?' Kurege ya amsa 'Alhamdu lillahi! To, ga dang wuri, shigo!' Suka zauna tare: jim kadang kurege ya ce 'Ke bushiya! Zaman nan namu, da ke, ba shi da dadi, jikingki ya cika tsini. Sai ki sake wuri!' Bushiya ta ce 'Ashe? Ni kuwa, dadi nike ji: Wanda wurin nam bai game shi ba, ba shi ya sake wani ba?' (I've omitted the accent marks because they'd be just too damn hard to put in.) Notice the antepenultimate (third to last) word in the second to last line, the one before "ji: Wanda". Interesting, no? (dade nike ji, from the translation, means "I enjoyed it", but I don't know the morphology, so I don't know what nike means.)
now, are we going to get a translation, or is that a silly question?
I was waiting for someone to ask. Scavenger hunt! I put the translation somewhere else on Grex. All YOU have to do is find it. (hee, hee, hee). /
(wait... I SAW it. I can't remember where!)
Maybe it got lost. In the overgrowth. (heeheehee)
(it's there, and as soon as Grex speeds up, I'll FIND IT.)
dammit! I hope you didn't stash it in that stupid item in agora bout lawn lengths. Some of us have the sense to "forget" rubbish like that!
Gee, Carson, Kami figured it out without even reading Agora. O.k., o.k., Kami, briefly: The hedgehog and the squirrel. One day a hedgehog was looking for shelter. It was becoming cold, and he had no place to stay warm. The squirrel invited him to stay at the squirrel's home, in a tree. After a few weeks, though, the squirrel became upset because the hedgehog's quills were dangerous and kept the squirrel from sleeping soundly. So, he said: "This will not do. I am very uncomfortable. I shall have to ask you to leave." The hedgehog responded, "I think it is you who should leave. Is it not said, that he who is unhappy with a place, should leave that place?" (I'm sure I changed some details; I'm doing it from memory.)
right. cosmic wisdom. I left...:) See ya!
<sigh>
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- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss