Lost in translation: Japanese department store makes grovelling apology after plastering shop windows with ‘F***in' Sale’ posters
Last updated at 8:09 PM on 13th January 2012
Chef Ron Silver who may have inspired the sale with his own 'f***in fresh & delicious' advertising at his restaurant
Mortified bosses of a Japanese department store were forced into a grovelling apology after plastering their windows with signs boasting a 'F***in' Sale'.
The Galerie shop in Osaka hung giant red signs emblazoned with the term all over their window display - as well as throughout the shop - to emphasise just how good they thought their January sale was.
The unfortunate slogan was meant to be a pun on fukubukuro - or 'lucky bags' - relating to the Japanese New Year retail custom of selling off discounted unwanted stock from the previous year in big grab bags.
Obviously, the pun was lost on English-speaking visitors to the store, and while most were amused by the unsubtle example of the language barrier, others complained.
It's hard to imagine how the managers must have felt when they were told that they had adorned a store, in one of ultra-polite Japan's biggest cities, with potty-mouthed slogans.
The signs were hastily torn down and the store publicly apologised for any offence caused.
Bloggers on the gawker.com site wrote: 'If only we could have sat in on the meeting where the marketing team for this Osaka department store came up with the idea for their F***in' Sale, "There should be some cool English words on these signs. How about F***in' Sale? What's that mean? F***in' means, like, really good. So it's a really good sale".'
That's quite a sale: The sale posters at the Galerie store in Osaka, with the offending word obscured to protect the innocent. unfortunately, the same was not done in-store
A foul-mouthed American chef has claimed he may have inspired the gaffe, after opening a branch of his restaurant in Yokohama, Japan in 2009, where a sign advertised 'F***in' Fresh lemonade' and 'F***in' Fresh & Delicious food'.
Ron Silver, owner and chef of New York's Bubby's restaurant, explained that 'F***in Fresh' remains the unofficial slogan of Bubby's Japanese branch, printed on menus, signs and t-shirts.
He said 'F***in Fresh' started as an inside joke about his obsession with fresh fruit, which is rarely used in Japan as it is much more expensive than the frozen or canned variety.
