International Business: Some international ads are perceived as sexist due to different cultural norms

In place of the “Got Milk?” campaign, Anita created a campaign that asked Latino mothers “Y usted, ¿Les dio suficiente leche hoy?” ("And you, did you give them enough milk today?"). The campaign leveraged strong Latino family values and focused on old family recipes that used milk as a principal ingredient. The campaign later evolved to include the tagline, “Familia, amor y leche.” (Family, love and milk.”) Thanks to Santiago’s help, the campaign went beyond just avoiding offense and actually achieved great success because it was adapted so appropriately to the target culture.

Companies will avoid more international, gender-related blunders if they first research what faux pas to avoid. As with any international or culture-specific venture, obtain expert help from marketers who really understand the local culture and can make your campaign great.

Adam Wooten is director of translation services at Lingotek. He also teaches a course on translation technology at BYU. E-mail: awooten@lingotek.com . Follow him on Twitter at AdamWooten..