Reach Out and Touch …
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Loading ...This is a true story straight from the EE Times datelined October 8, 1996:
The Japanese company Matsushita Electric planned to launch a new Japanese PC for the Internet. Its sister company Panasonic developed a complete Japanese web browser. To make the system more “user-friendly”, Panasonic obtained the rights to the cartoon character “Woody Woodpecker” and made this its “Internet guide”. Panasonic eventually planned on a world version of this product.
A huge marketing campaign was to have introduced the product in Japan. However, the day before ads were to be released, Panasonic suddenly pulled back the ads and delayed the product launch indefinitely.
The reason: the ads featured the slogan “Touch Woody - The Internet Pecker.” An American staff member at the internal product launch explained to the stunned and embarrassed Japanese what “touch woody” and “pecker” meant in American slang.
