Many Twitter users scoffed at the social media company’s new branding – revealed by founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this littlek – using the hashtag #FacebookDead. “Someone hasn’t done their #branding research”, one post reaD.
Dr Nirit Weiss-Blatt, author of The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, tweeted: “In Hebrew, * Meta * means * Death * The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come.”
“Big mistake ?? New Facebook name Meta means death in Hebrew. Hilarious. #FacebookDead” another user tweeted.
Zuckerberg’s efforts to revamp Facebook come as the company grapples with what could be its most powerful scandal since its launch in 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 outlets, including CNN, that substantiate claims by whistleblower Frances Haugen that the business is riddled institutional gaps.
The documents reveal how Facebook propelled disinformation, struggled to remove human trafficking-related content from the site, and attempted to increase its audience among adolescents, despite internal research suggesting its platforms, especially Instagram, may be having an effect harmful to their mental health.
Facebook isn’t the first company to be ridiculed after its branding has not been translated overseas.
In 2019, Kim Kardashian West was accused of cultural appropriation after launching her shapewear brand, which she initially named Kimono. Kardashian even appears to have filed the word “kimono,” a move Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa criticized in an open letter on Facebook.
“We believe that the names of ‘Kimono’ are the asset shared with all mankind who love the Kimono and its culture, so they should not be monopolized,” Kadokawa wrote.
Kardashian changed her brand name to Skims later that year.
In 2017, the name of McDonald’s changes in China raised eyebrows. Customers were taken aback when the company replaced Maidanglao, a Chinese iteration of the English name, with Jingongmen, which loosely translates to “Golden Arches.” One customer said it “looks like a furniture store”.
And when the Nissan Moco launched in the early 2000s, Spanish-speaking customers might have looked twice, as the word “moco” translates to “bogey”. Needless to say, the name was only used in Japan.
