The German automaker Volkswagen AG is in trouble for speaking Spanish. In a recent billboard ad for its GTI model targeting the Hispanic market, the company used the word "cojones," which literally
translated means testicles. The ad showed a photo of the car with the words "Turbo-Cojones." VW was using the word colloquially to mean bold and daring, but the plan backfired, especially among
Cuban-Americans in Miami. "In English, Turbo-Balls might not sound so offensive," says Luis Perez Tolon, an instructor at Miami-Dade College who supervises a writing program for the Spanish-language
network Telemundo. "But in the Spanish-speaking community, it will always have a vulgar connotation." The billboards were taken down in Miami and other cities after the complaints came pouring in.
VW's intent was to pitch the sporty, fast car to young, bilingual Hispanics whose first language is English but who retain ties to their Latino heritage. "We wanted something that broke out of the
mold and carried the connotation of being strong and gutsy," says Daniel Marrero, creative director for the Miami-based ad agency that created the ad. "This is a word adapted in the American
vernacular. We never thought it would be an issue."
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