Excerpt
I Saw the Potato
When Coca-Cola entered the mainland Chinese market in the 1920’s they didn’t know what to call their product.
They knew choosing Mandarin characters that phonetically matched ko-ka-ko-la might result in some nonsensical or
embarrassing phrase. No one in their Atlanta headquarters wanted to take that chance. But they also didn’t want to
delay filling shelves across China with the “Real Thing” while they sifted through the 40,000 characters that make up
the Chinese alphabet looking for the perfect name. As the old saying goes, money talks, so Coke decided not to. They
introduced Coca Cola without giving it a Chinese name as they continued to look for an alternative.
But it is hard to sell a nameless product, and a bottle covered with English letters doesn’t speak to a Mandarin
speaking country. The corporate guys back in the United States might have been able to take their time trying to come up
with the perfect combination of four Chinese characters, but the people trying to peddle a new soft drink on the street
couldn’t. Chinese shopkeepers took matters in their own hands and picked four letters that sounded like the English name
Coca Cola. They put the name on signs all over the marketplace. Coke was a hit in China. Thirsty shoppers loved it, although more
than one wondered why anyone would call a carbonated beverage “Bite the wax tadpole.”
Coke wasn’t the only product to have a translation problem in China. Pepsi’s catch phrase from the Sixties, “Come alive with
the Pepsi generation” came across as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead.” Chinese Stephen King fans probably loved
it. Kentucky Fried Chicken didn’t do much better. Their slogan, “finger lickin’ good” was translated, “Eat your fingers off.” Apparently
eating KFC in China makes you hungry for more than chicken.
Big businesses aren’t the only ones to find their products lose a little something in translation. When the Pope visited Miami in the
mid 80’s one local entrepreneur decided to make some money the old fashioned way, selling t-shirts. He had a few hundred shirts printed up,
shirts that were supposed to say in Spanish, “I saw the Pope.” Unfortunately, he didn’t speak Spanish himself, and he didn’t check with
anyone who did before he sent his design to the printers. Instead of selling “I saw the Pope” shirts, he ended up hawking “I saw the
potato” shirts. If he had lived in Idaho, he might have broken even.
-- Mission To Oz
Read More
I have a feeling we aren't in Kansas anymore
If the postmodern landscape makes you
feel like a stranger in a strange land, Oz is your compass. In it
you will find the insight and encouragement needed to understand and
engage a new generation with the timeless truth of the gospel. Bestselling
author Leonard Sweet said Oz,
"...taught me how to be in touch with the culture but in tune with
the Spirit."
What Others are Saying
"Highly recommended."
--CBA Marketplace.
Click here to read the full review from the May, 2004 issue.
"I have read other books on postmodernism,
but this is the one that inspired me and taught me how to reach out to people in
the postmodern world."
--Lance Shumake, president of Iwitness Ministries.
"As a person living in oz, my first impression was
"what, why make fun of us?" But then I read the book - and well,
I did change my mind. Let me share with you some reasons I like this
book...."
Read more at: http://ginkworld.net/culture/books.html
Click
here to read what authors Leonard Sweet, Dan Kimball and Jim Wilson say
about Oz, along with endorsements from a bunch of nobodies from nowhere (which
is exactly the audience Mark had in mind when he wrote this book).
From the Author
The journey toward Oz started over five years ago when John Mark Yeats and I
sat down in Scholtzky's to discuss C.S. Lewis's
The Abolition of Man
over lunch. That led to another lunch with John Mark and a new book, Leonard Sweet's
SoulTsunami.
As my eyes slowly began to open to the true nature of the cultural
changes swirling around us in the postmodern world, I wanted to know more. Later
that year I spoke on the subject for the first time at the Glorieta Writer's
Conference. An editor from a publishing house picked up a tape of my conference,
Communicating Eternal Truth to a Postmodern World, and asked if I
would be interested in writing a book on the subject. The marketing department
of that house later shot down Oz ("Nobody wants to read any more books on
postmodernism," they said), so I packed all my research away and sat on the
idea. Until last year. During a chance meeting with Mark Tobey of Moody
Publishers he mentioned his desire to publish a different kind of book on
postmodernism, a book written for real people, not professors or ministry
professionals. I told him I had just what he was looking for, and Mission to
Oz moved from my computer's hard drive to a book store near you.
I never set out to make the trip to Oz, but I'm glad I did.
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