Many Twitter users scoffed at the transformation of the social network revealed by founder Mark Zuckerberg this beforek – using the #FacebookDead tag. “Someone didn’t do the #branding survey,” he continuedand post read.
Nirit Weiss-Blatt, author of The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, he tweeted: “In Hebrew * Meta * means * Dead * The Jewish community will mock the name for years to come.”
“Is it a mistake? Facebook’s new name Meta in Hebrew means dead. Funny. #FacebookDead” another user he tweeted.
Zuckerberg’s efforts to revamp Facebook come when the company faces what it could be the strongest scandal since the beginning of 2004.
The social media giant is in the spotlight after this week’s publication of “The Facebook Papers,” a series of internal documents obtained by 17 news organizations, including CNN, supporting the claims of whistleblower Frances Haugen with which the company is cracked. institutional weaknesses.
The documents disclose how Facebook promoted misinformation, sought to remove trafficking-related content on the site, and tried to increase its teenage audience, despite internal research showing that its platforms, particularly Instagram, could negatively impact their mental health.
Facebook is not the first company to be ridiculed after its brand was not translated overseas.
In 2019, she was Kim Kardashian West accused of cultural appropriation after introducing her design clothing brand, which she initially named Kimono. Kardashian even seems to have labeled the word “kimono” a trademark, a decision criticized by Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa in an open letter on Facebook.
“We believe the names for the‘ kimono ’are an advantage it shares with all of humanity who love the kimono and its culture, so they should not be monopolized,” Kadokawa wrote.
Kardashian changed its brand name to Skims later that year.
In 2017, McDonald’s name was changed in China raised eyebrows. Buyers were left confused when Maidanglao, a Chinese repetition of the English name, was replaced by Jingongmen, which loosely means “Golden Bows”. One customer said it “sounds like a furniture store.”
And when the Nissan Moco was introduced in the early 2000s, it may have been owned by Spanish-speaking buyers looked twice, as the word “moco” is translated as “bogey”. Needless to say, the name was used only in Japan.
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