Stupid marketing tricks

Target Stores released a line of back-to-school clothing with the seemingly meaningless legend "EIGHT EIGHT," undoubtedly thinking this qualified it as some kind of 80s nostalgia item. Oopsy! Turns out the "EIGHT EIGHT" phrase is skinhead code for "Heil Hitler." That wasn't as dumb, of course, as Abercrombie & Fitch's slant-eyed coolie gear, released earlier this year. The latter instantly became a collector's item thanks to the publicity. (Thanks to uberchick for the links.)

When mentioning goofs like these, it's always fun to recall marketing slogan translation errors like "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation" being translated into Chinese as Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead, or Coors' "Turn It Loose" being translated into Spanish in such a way that it suggested "Coors loosens your bowels." And from there, it's only a short distance to the always entertaining world of fractured English as employed by the Japanese in slogans and advertisements.