Lost In TranSlatioN

It is true that ads which are badly translated into other languages and can cause offense to native speakers.

I am bi-lingual and I am very proud of my mother tongue. If I should read an ad that is misspelled, wrong meaning is transmitted or just sounds dumb I will have to figure out who wrote it, why couldn't they find an adequate translator and wasn't it checked before it ran???

There are poorly translated ads out there that are worth sharing with friends because the make us laugh. Worse, some really bad translated ads can make a brand unappealing toward the target audience, the very people the ad is translated for. The question on my mind is, WHo is that person or persons that give it a green light before triple checking it??

The rule must be that If we want to know how to say something in another language...get a speaker of that language to do the job. Get another one to check it and then just to make sure your slogan didn't change meaning toward the opposite spectrum, 3rd time is the charm.
http://www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/HorrorMistakes.htm#ford

gROUND zERo

Ad week challenged the advertising agencies to find a creative way to get around the religious issues and the building of the mosk on ground zero. 5 responded with creative and copy that I can only describe as a job well done. They are in majority very positive about American people and the religious tolerance that Americans need to show toward those who are Muslim. I particularly liked Gotham New York's response. They classify the whole of the United States as GROUND ZERO. I agree with them for the fact that the matter that the Muslim war against Christian America has escalated and will continue to get pulled out of proportion because of the tolerance of "religion" in this country.
Since when is it tolerable to kill thousands of people, try to sink the US economy, and take responsibility of your actions all based on RELIGIOUS motivation. Sure, we all believe in a Higher power, but can we use that Deity to kill?
People have gone to war for centuries, most wars believe it or not had started because of women.
Now, I am not saying that I condemn Muslim's, but I believe that they have a very ethnocentric way of looking at the States, and them, like any other outsider, should not judge nor use selfish religious ideologies to tear the world apart. We are all HUMAN, HUMAN beings. We have to share this world, it's the only one we've got.
I pray for reconciliation
I pray for peace
I pray for tolerance
I pray for this tit for tat thing to stop
I want to live in a world where I can be safe regardless of whom I worship.
http://http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i188fd3103facd85e6db29539a44fe29c

CreatiVe ConsuMers

I recently read an article about consumers taking more action in the creative process by the use of amateur video and semi- professional creatives. I know that the agencies rely on the "professional" creatives and free lancers they use on a day to day basis. But it is obvious that the consumers-self, knows what works and what doesn't resonate with them. I believe that agencies, for their own benefit needs to tap into the consumers mind and have a bunch of "amateurs" think creatively about a product. This in my mind beats the idea of a focus group. Compare 8 people and what ideas my come from them to 500 people all thinking in unique creative ways. Many Monkeys and many typewriters may have a result of some funky idea.