Minute Maid's "Super Milky" Mangles English For Profit In China

Preparing for the 2010 World Expo, Shanghai city has declared war on Chinglish, much as Beijing did before the Olympics.

The campaign to wipe out strange and often hilarious English translations on menus, signs and advertisements was announced just before Coca-Cola launched its new ad campaign, and first plunge into the dairy sector in Shanghai with a new product.

The name of the drink? Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky. Seriously.

CEO Doug Jackson told Media:

We believe that Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky, developed specifically for Chinese consumers, will allow us to continue to grow Minute Maid’s strong position in the market. Furthermore this product underscores our commitment to China in developing new products for the local market and the world from our Chinese R&D centre.

But what appears as a glaring linguistic oversight is actually a sly marketing tool. Coca-Cola’s targert in China isn't the handful of people who speak English fluently; it’s the 1.3 billion people who don’t. To them, cute-sounding English sells, whether or not it actually means anything.

Hence, Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky’s campaign slogan, “My Delightful Fusion Lifestyle.” Ad campaigns with similarly ridiculous-sounding names and slogans are scattered throughout Asia. Often these campaigns are run by successful international companies with track records of tremendous marketing savvy, proving that one country’s beverage is another’s super milky.