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"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'.

[...]

"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.'"