We're Getting Drawn Out For Pronouncing Brand Names Wrong🙅🏽‍♀️and I LOVE it🫶🏽✨!

Have you ever come to the realisation that you were pronouncing something wrong for your entire life? If not…you're capping🧢and here's why

May 01, 2024

Heyyy! I’m back🎉(for real this time)!

And happy 1st May!

The UK release of Challengers was last weekend and I think it’s safe to say that Zendaya ATE her press looks (and Law did his big one too!)

So of course I had to see it — and good thing I did because the ads everyone wishes they could skip inspired this week’s newsletter😉

Let’s Talk: Pronunciation🗣️📢

“Syntax is complex, but the complexity is there for a reason” - Steven Pinker

Think about your French or Spanish lessons at school, or when you downloaded Duolingo and promised yourself you’d take it seriously.

With 7,164 languages in the world, we’re bound to pronounce things wrong.

However, there’s an art to correction. This usually happens in 4 steps:

We pronounce something incorrectly✅
We are informed of our mistake ✅
We actively make the effort to ensure we pronounce it correctly next time✅
We inform others who we hear pronounce it incorrectly so they no longer make the same mistake we did✅

Today, we’re having a look at some brands who are putting a fun, creative spin on step 2, and I’m here for it!

Loewe — Decades of Confusion

And now for the star🌟of the cinema ads…

Loewe takes us on trip through time, embracing 178 years of the brand with an impromptu, comedic spelling bee🐝 staring Dan Levy and Aubrey Plaza.

With 4 scenes spanning across 4 decades, Loewe make sure to let us know they’re one of the big dogs🐕 in the game. They focus on highlighting their longevity, showing their mark on the fashion industry.

In 2 and a half minutes, the brand name is repeated 7 times.

Having studied A Level Psychology, I’d like to say I know my way around the long-term memory store (but I’m by no means an expert).

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) developed the Multi-store Model of Memory. This theory states that if information is repeated in the short term, it will be transferred to our long-term memory.

The writer leverages this to kick-start the correction process in a light-hearted, funny way.

Youre Wrong Gordon Ramsay GIF by Hell's Kitchen

Hyundai — The Dawn of a New Hyundai

Apparently everyone in the UK has been pronouncing Hyundai wrong this whole time!

Up until the writing of this week’s newsletter, I’d never seen this ad but it’s hilarious😂

I love it for two reasons:

They’re taking shots at Brits for absolutely butchering the name!
It highlights the flaws of AI and voice recognition🤖 - a lot of tech doesn’t account for human error (like wrong pronunciation) so it can’t be fully relied on.

But I’m convinced this has to be some sort of Mandela Effect🤔 because I’ve never heard anyone pronounce Hyundai like the lady at the end!

Corteiz — How Do You Say It?

London streetwear brand Corteiz is known for their surprise drops, famous co-signs and having hundreds of people travel all over the city🏙️for a chance to cop one of their pieces.

In their latest ad, they asked a bunch of people (including some famous faces) how do you say it?

The beauty of diversity takes centre stage here! The inclusion of people of all ages, races, nationalities, and mother tongues means we’re expecting a variation in pronunciation.

However, they’ve chosen not to correct us. Instead, they’re allowing us to say it in any way we please.

This really got me thinking🤔…

It creates mystery behind the brand — the discourse surrounding its pronunciation makes us want to know how to say it even more
Maybe it’s not about how it’s pronounced, but more about brand recognition and loyalty — Corteiz is for the culture!
Perhaps they simply don’t care how you pronounce it — if someone mentions Corteiz (regardless of how they say it) we all know what they’re talking about
There will never be a sense of embarrassment — if nobody really knows how to say it, how can you be clowned for your interpretation of the name?