Coles makes a Monkey of Chinese New Year
Coles lucky Bamboo. Click to enlarge.
Chinese New Year is upon us, and Dr Mumbo is pleased to see so many brands getting involved in marketing initiatives around it.
Supermarket chain Coles has caused quite a stir in the Chinese community with its decoratively-potted lucky bamboo, but not in the way it would have wanted.
Next year is the Year of the Monkey, and the pots feature a cute illustration of a monkey. Unfortunately for Coles while the picture is right the traditional Chinese character accompanying it is actually ‘goat’.
LOL and I can see that you have used a Kanji (which is Japanese) translator to get the character for goat.
Guess its karma for Anglos “enjoying” almost a century of LOL/ mocking of chinglish!
You could surmise the pots from last year (yes, Year of the Goat) weren’t bestsellers…
Have you noticed Chinese New Year has been replaced with the term Lunar New Year in media/advertising this year? This is the first year I have seen the term so widely used. Anyone know why the change this year?
We (supplier) also stuffed it up for Woolworths, but nobody’s noticed yet. Last year we mixed up sheep and goats. We’re on a roll!
Absolute champions
These could be old stock? Last year was year of the goat.
To answer LNY’s question – Chinese New Year essentially is Lunar New Year, it’s for people who use the Lunar calendar, which includes other countries like Korean and Vietnam, so using the term ‘Lunar’ would be more inclusive and relate to a wider audience.
The Chinese named each month by throwing pots and pans down the stairs.