Last Friday I noticed a sign on San Martin for a coming soon "Popeye's" chicken restaurant chain. Cerca de the McDonalds that Chileans have come to know and love. South Americans, although they have a wide array of homegrown chains and restaurants, have a large thirst for U.S. originated restaurants. This is why I am not surprised that Popeye's, the "Louisiana kitchen" that we are very familiar with in the states, has made its way down to Viña del Mar.
What I was a little confused about, however, was the language the advertisement was in. It said something along the lines of "Coming Soon! Popeye's chicken, from Louisiana's kitchen, marinated and slow cooked...." And I'm not sure of the rest. But I know that we've learned over and over again how relevant language is in international marketing. It was surprising to me that they didn't even attempt to use Spanish in their sign. I can see that they are coming at it from the angle of "we're from the U.S. so love us," but I know that I don't know the word for 'marinate' in Spanish, so I doubt most Chileans know this English word.
It seems to me that they could have done a better job of mixing Spanish and English to get across their message. Yes, they're a U.S. company and believe that should have appeal in and of itself. However, they should have attempted a little further to integrate into the culture here in their advertisement. Which is my opinion from what I've learned in the class this semester.
Funny that you started using spanish in your blog, “cerca de”. “Marinate” is just “Marinar” in Spanish. Nearly the same. I had never heard of this chicken restaurant chain from Louisiana. Is it a KFC kind of chain?
ReplyDeleteOn your comments: True, the language is very important as it is one of the main communication instruments we use. On the other hand, here in Chile, it seems that flirting with English, even though most people hardly speak or read it, is in. In shopping malls you see more often SALE than VENTA and you have seen probably more examples of that.
I suppose there were images on the ad, otherwise it would have been worse. Could you suggest a sort of pay-off in Spanish that sums up Popey’s chicken chain?
One final remark. Perhaps you have seen Breaking Bad, and in the series one of the main characters runs a large chicken restaurant chain named…… “El Pollo”, and the owner came from Chile. Apparently there is a easy flow of Spanish and English between North- and South America.