Refreshing or Not?

Pepsi’s campaigns have been “refreshing “ the advertising scene lately. And their hoping that their “Yo Sumo” campaign (Spanish for I count) will be no exception. According to Ad Age the campaign encourages Hispanics to “go beyond just being counted numerically and to share their experiences that have shaped the American landscape.” To do this Pepsi has enlisted the help of Eva Longoria Parker to produce a documentary from the stories posted on the website, pepsiyosumo.com. Pepsi hopes to get YAYAs to tell their stories about growing up Hispanic in America, or arriving as young immigrants. Pepsi has placed commercials on Telemundo and Mun 2 (Telemundo’s youth station).

I’m always happy to see companies that invest in advertisements that cater to diverse targets; however, while reading this article I couldn’t shake the feeling that something just wasn’t right. As I scrolled through the comments left on the article, my beliefs were confirmed. Now I’m no Spanish pro, but even I know that “Yo Sumo” sounds weird. I thought that “Yo cuento” would be the correct word and most people agreed with me. The comments ranged from anger to disbelief. Native speakers thought that the correct word was “Yo cuento” and were shocked that neither Pepsi nor Dieste (the ad agency) caught the mistake in translation. Usually “Yo sumo” means I add numbers in the mathematical sense and “Yo cuento” would be the better way to say I count or I’m of value. Although it’s not a drastic difference it could cause the meaning of the campaign to be unclear. I’m sure this won’t be the last of this debate around the correct wording. I wonder if this seemingly innocent translation mistake will hinder this campaign’s success. What do you think?