Kraft Stirs Controversy and Comedy with Proposed Name ‘Mondelez’
The Kraft Foods Inc. Board of Directors will vote tomorrow on whether to adopt the name Mondelez for a new business unit even after controversy and comedy erupted over the word, which sounds like the slang expression for oral sex in Russian.
Kraft says the word (pronounced mohn-dah-LEEZ) was coined to indicate "worldwide deliciousness."
Jokes about the name have flooded the media, both online and print.
Michael Mitchell, a Kraft spokesman, however, points out that "the name has to be mispronounced to get that unfortunate meaning."
The biggest gaffe in words to date was probably Chevrolet's introduction of the Nova automobile in Latin America. In Spanish, nova means "doesn't go."
Nova means “new” in most usage. See Nova Scotia.