A Picute is Worth a Thousand Words

I just came across a post that I never finished. As I wrote it I began the process every good journalist (remember, I am not a journalist, I just play one on the web) should do; fact checks.

I was disturbed to find out that the humorous tales I learned in my business classes at WMU were either completely false, or at least under suspicion. *sigh* Can't anything be on the up and up any more? Not that I want to live in Mayberry with Sheriff Taylor, but come on people! A little straight forwardness and honesty, is that too much to ask? But I digress...

Point is, I liked my original idea for a story, and who can resist an opportunity to brag about their kids? The "business tales" I will leave for you to decide.

8/27/2008 I wrote:
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A colleague of mine was commenting on this great picture we have of our five month old daughter with a big bright smile on her face. She said, "Wow, looks like you have a Gerber baby there!". This brought to mind the picture on the front of all Gerber products and I remembered a funny thing we learned in a business class I took at the Haworth College of Business here at WMU.

Gerber baby in a jar: In South Africa the literacy rate is very low, so most products have a picture of the containers contents on its label. Wanting to understand why it's hugely successful line of baby food was not selling well internationally, Gerber flew some executives to Africa. They were informed that no one would buy a jar of ground up babies...Gerber as you may know, is famous for having a picture of a cute baby face on its labels!

Nova = "No go": Chevy took its successful Nova model to Mexico where sales were beyond abysmal. When they investigated further they discovered that the name Nova quite literally means "No go" in Spanish. They changed the name to Caribe and sales took off.
Note: This one is under a bit of scrutiny and Snopes.com lists this tale as "False", although I think their supporting argument is a little suspect and the fact that this tale was in my Business 4200 textbook leads me to believe it. Plus, it's too funny to dismiss!)

John Deere adultery hat: In Asia there is an idiom that translates roughly to "I wear a green hat", which means that you cheat on your spouse. John Deere has found that their hats sell better in white, or yellow. Anything but green!
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If the stories are true or not, I find it interesting that they appear in college text books. I seem to find myself frequently using web sites like snopes.com to check things of this nature. It seems to be pretty reliable, although you can't blindly trust any one site, and some of their supporting arguments seem suspect to me.

I do find Snopes to be effective at debunking the e-mail rumors and virus alerts that seem so prevalent these days. I once briefly believed an e-mail sent to me with a picture of a 27' Aligator that was taken out of a local river in my home town. Very realistic with pictures and references to real places, people, and newspapers. I double checked in Snopes, and sure enough the length was exaggerated (largest 'gator ever recorded was under 20') and the photo was taken in Texas somewhere. Seems there are several versions of this e-mail sent around, customized to your local area, in an effort to get you to forward to all of your friends. This gives the creator access to your e-mail address book and the ability to spread viruses. Crazy people...

So, when it comes to the stories you have heard here, you be the judge. I just wouldn't recommend that you wear your green hat on your next visit to Japan.

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