Apple is a "master" of marketing, that is, it thinks so well about its product promotion strategies that few companies can match it in this regard. The same cannot be said about the promotion campaign iPhone 7, here the Apple company making a monumental mistake that will probably cost it.
More precisely, we are talking about how the iPhone 7 is promoted in China and how the word 7 has a completely different meaning in Cantonese than the one we all know. More precisely, a Chinese journalist claims that in Cantonese, the word seven is used as slang for the word penis, yes, you read that right, we are talking about the male genital organ.
According to this journalist, Apple promotes iPhone 7 in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan with the slogans: 7 is here; exactly, it's 7 and this one, it's exactly 7. What some Asians will understand after reading these slogans is this: the penis is here, exactly, it's the penis and this one, it's exactly the penis.
This is penis, sorry iPhone 7
Assuming that the people who created these slogans for Apple also know what is also spoken as jargon in Cantonese, we are talking about a colossal mistake for Apple. It is more than unusual to see a slogan of this kind and to associate it with the male male organ, but it seems that the Asian journalist made the connection very quickly.
"In Cantonese, 'seven,' or 柒, is pronounced chat, and is also slang for 'penis.' The word isn't particularly offensive. Instead, it is often used to describe a hilarious person or thing, or mock someone gently. Let's say a friend slipped in public, or got a goofy haircut: you can say to him in Cantonese 'You are so seven,' without hurting his feelings too much. Or, you can take the literal meaning. That's why "This is penis" or "Penis, is here" or "Exactly is Penis" were not great choices for Apple's Hong Kong marketing push."
Of course, Apple has not commented on the situation at all and there is a good chance that it will not, considering that the iPhone 7 will be put in an extremely bad position.
