The years go by and marketers continue to learn their craft . . . but, oops! Accidents and gaffes still happen. One company has taken a closer look to reveal the most high profile marketing blunders caused by mishaps with campaign content.

In the UK-based poll of marketing gaffes, researched by international content management provider, e-Spirit, a campaign from an American beer producer was given the number one position. Marketing campaigns are instantly beamed around the world and the survey was carried out to highlight how costly these blunders can be: e-Spirit warns that businesses need to take care when publishing material or they could face a similar fate.

The top five gaffes listed in the poll were:

1. Loosed in translation: The American beer Coors used the slogan ‘Turn It Loose’ in its marketing campaign. That was fine in the US, but when the phrase was translated into Spanish, it read: ‘Suffer From Diarrhoea’.
2. A hair-raising name: When Clairol launched the ‘mist stick’ hair curling iron in Germany, the company was slow to realise that mist is slang for manure in German. Strangely the ‘manure stick’ wasn’t that popular.
3. Snookered: ‘Cue’ was the name of Colgate’s new toothpaste. It also happened to be the title of a notorious adult magazine.
4. Dead or Alive: Pepsi used the slogan ‘Come alive with the Pepsi generation’ as an international marketing campaign. But when translated into Chinese, it read: ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave’.
5. Knocked-up: Parker Pen’s Mexican ads for a new ballpoint pen were supposed to read: ‘It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you’. But a translation error meant the ad read: ‘It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant’.

Robert Bredlau, director of international development at e-Spirit, said: “Marketing is invaluable in terms of building brand awareness and developing a business. But at the same time, with an instant world-wide reach of modern media, launching campaigns presents perils, too.

“It’s critically important to take time to carefully vet marketing materials, or a company could suffer extreme embarrassment, damage their own reputation or lose money. The world of modern marketing is as hazardous as it is exciting.”