[1660] in Humor
HUMOR: Touch Woody
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew Bennett)
Fri Oct 25 14:42:03 1996
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 14:25:13 -0400
To: humor@MIT.EDU
From: abennett@MIT.EDU (Andrew Bennett)
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 18:15:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: Espacionaute Spiff domine! <MATOSSIAN@aries.colorado.edu>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 12:05:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Subject: The Internet Pecker (we're not the only ones marketing the "Nova").
Forwarded-by: Aaron Brown <abrown@eecs.harvard.edu>
Forwarded-by: snopes <snopes@best.com>
If you browser can display Japanese characters (and you can read them),
try http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/article/960530/woody.html If
not, here's the article:
Electronic Engineering Times October 7, 1996
A suggestive Woody has Japanese touchy
BYLINE: Yoshida, Junko
Osaka, Japan - The clash of cultures can oft foil the best-laid plans
of marketers. Consider Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic
brand, now peppering the Japanese market with a home-PC product line
called <Woody,> as in woodpecker. The company spent big bucks promoting
the new line here and went so far as to come up with a clever name for a
niche of the new line:PCs with touchscreen capability. The name? "Touch
Woody." What did the Japanese giant then decide to call a utility to
download Internet home pages? "Internet Pecker."
That all makes sense if you've spent a lot of money to buy the rights
to use Woody Woodpecker as a mascot, but it doesn't make much sense if
you consider the connotation those phrases have in American slang.
The product was launched only in the Japanese domestic market.
Nevertheless, only the day before the "Touch Woody" press announcement,
a quick-witted American woman working at the company alerted Japanese top
management to what that seemingly harmless phrase could mean.
All printed and spoken "Touch Woody" references in the Japanese
promotions were switched at the last minute to the "Woody Touch Panel."
Top Japanese executives at the press conference apologized profusely for
the sudden change of product name, begging the press not to use "Touch
Woody" in their stories. But, not being able to stand losing face any
further, they stopped short of explaining the whole touchy subject to the
Japanese press or dealers.
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Andrew Bennett MIT Department Ocean Engineering
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Cambridge, MA 02139 <Standard Disclaimers Apply> Phone: (617) 253-7950
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