Gerber Baby Food Unfortunate Translation

Product promotion might not always turn as the firms intend but sometimes tend to have unfortunate translations. Some products have had pictures or words being lost in translation. For instance, Gerber baby food a US company suffered from the unfortunate translation when it used a baby sketch on its product packet (Origins Info, 2019). The sketch used featured a Caucasian baby whom people thought had become a famous person. Use of a Gerber branding and baby sketch was invaluable to the organization. The product attracted more customers internationally and the organization thought of expanding it to Africa. 

However, the product had very low demand in Africa due to misinterpretation by the population. The low literacy levels in Africa caused the unfortunate translation (Origins Info, 2019). Africans connect the product with the branding image hence thought that it was made for babies. Moreover, the product also failed to achieve targeted sales in France due to similar issues of translation. The word Gerber used in branding the product means vomit in French.

What caused the unfortunate translations was lack of cross-cultural marketing to understand differences in markets. They failed to consider the cultures of consumers that targeted to consume the products (Origins Info, 2019). The mistakes would have been avoided if the company had carried out cultural research. Both translations affected the sales of product both in Africa and France. The company did not achieve the target sales in the two markets hence reducing its profits. The Company responded to the issue by rebranding its products. They engaged in product diversification and changed the packages for their products to glass jar. The aim of changing was to renew the public perception about the product and make them acceptable in different societies.

References

Origins Info (2019) Lost in Translation: Gerber Happy Baby Available: https://www.originsinfo.com.au/lost-in-translation-gerber-happy-baby/