http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6675&edition=2&ttl=20090702001427 Nigaz: Lost in translation? Nigaz - a racist term or an innocent mistake? This is the question dominated social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Last week Russia's energy giant Gazprom formed a $2.5 billion joint venture with Nigeria's oil company NNPC to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Africa's most populous nation. But while this deal has been celebrated as reinforcing Russia's position within Europe, the reaction among some Nigerians has been far from ecstatic. One group on Facebook calling itself 'Nigerians No Nigaz' writes 'How more derogatory can it be ... to set up a NEW company for the JV and name it NIGAZ...this is derogatory - surely not Nigerian-like.' Is it just innocent PR blunder or is the world becoming too politically correct? Should the new company be renamed? Will this incident have any lasting impact on Russia-African relations? Do you know of any memorable PR blunders?
I work for a gas pipeline, one of our shipping customers is Northern Illinois Gas, or NiGas, but it's pronounced "nigh-gass," I kind of assumed that's how this is stated, as well.
It was less blatant but the original naming of the Houston Dynamo was a PR blunder. http://www.soccertimes.com/mls/2006/mar06.htm
reminds me of this: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bGdCeMayUjk&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bGdCeMayUjk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I think people are overreacting (big surprise), isn't this a good way to get rid of negative sound of the N word (since some people might associate it with this company). And if it isn't used to be derogative why complain about it?
This one was a joke, not a pr blunder: When Shell, Texaco, and Saudi Aramco were discussing a possible merger, the running joke was that the new company would be called 'Shamco"
