12 Biggest Brand Blunders In History

9. IKEA Managed To Release A Stuffed Wolf Toy Whose Name Translated To "Mother's Vagina"

Ikea LUFSIG
Ikea

Strangely enough this literal translation actually increased sales for IKEA - but not in the way they first envisaged when they created a stuffed-toy wolf based on the "Big Bad Wolf" from Little Red Riding Hood.

In December 2013, one of the toys was thrown at Chief Executive CY Leung of the Hong Kong government who had been nicknamed "the wolf" by opposition critics. After this incident it was discovered that "Lufsig", as the toy was named, literally translated to "mother's vagina" in Cantonese. As a result of this, sales soared as the toy became a symbol of opposition to the Hong Kong government.

 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.