From: SNOPES%MRGPRE%Health_Net@mcimail.com (SNOPES)
Subject: Coca-Cola ULs
Date: 2 May 1993 11:52:59 -0500

I quote from the recently published ponderous tome _For God, Country and
Coca-Cola -- The Unauthorized History of the Great American Soft Drink and the
Company That Makes It_:

    "Different languages and cultures also caused problems.  The Company 
developed one universal ad for distribution showing only the torso of a man in 
a tuxedo drinking from the trademark glass and featuring the hobbleskirt 
bottle.  'Coca-Cola' was the only word in the ad.  But even that wouldn't have 
worked in China.  The Chinese characters which most closely reproduced the 
sound of 'Coca-Cola' translated roughly to 'bite the wax tadpole.'  Finally, an 
alternative that meant 'can mouth, can happy,' had to suffice.*  In Dutch, the 
slogan 'Refresh Yourself With Coca-Cola' meant 'Wash Your Hands With 
Coca-Cola,' so in Holland another phrase was devised.
     In Cuba, an unfortunate wind blew one day as the soft drink manufacturer 
tested the new art of skywriting.  'Tome Coca-Cola' (Drink Coca-Cola) was 
blurred so that the crowds below received the message, 'Teme Coca-Cola (Fear 
Coca-Cola).  Even the Company's most earnest efforts to adapt advertising to 
local culture provoked trouble.  An elegant lithograph showing a bullfight was 
prepared for Cuba, but since the sport was illegal there, it proved unusable."

* "Coke never actually went public with its tadpole-biting title.  Many years 
later, however, Pepsi's 'Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation' *was* literally
translated in Taiwan, where it meant 'Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from 
the dead.'  The nearest Coke ever came to such a faux pas was with its French 
version of 'Have a Coke and a Smile,' which, when heard as lyrics in a song, 
could easily be misunderstood as 'Have a Coke and a Mouse'.

  - and, in another Ul-related tidbit:

"Although the Company did not respond to the New Coke douche query, the answer
was 'No,' according to a scientific study conducted by a group of Harvard 
Medical School researchers who found that Coca-Cola classic killed five times 
as many sperm as New Coke.  The researchers didn't recommend any form of 
postcoital douche, however, since 'sperm can make it into the fallopian tubes 
in minutes.'"

The book also mentions that the Beatles nearly signed an agreement to do
advertising jingles for Coca-Cola, but their price was too steep.

 - snopes

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|                                                                             |
|  "Ninety-five per cent of the guys do not know that this is not a vagina"   |
|                                                                             |
|                             Tina Brown's _The New Yorker_   April 26, 1993  |
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|  David P. Mikkelson   Calif. State Univ., Northridge   Northridge, CA  USA  |
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