John, one of Coca-Cola's top producing sales reps, returned from his new Middle East assignment feeling extremely disappointed and dejected.
A friend asked him, "So John, were you successful with the Arabs?"
John remarked, "No, not at all. In fact, I was a complete flop."
He then explained, "Well, when I was first assigned Coca-Cola's Middle East sales territory I was very confident that I'd make a great sales pitch and then be able to really expand our soda brand over there. After all, we've got a great product and Cola drinks are virtually unknown there.
But, I had a problem from the very start, because I don't speak Arabic. So, I devised an ingenious plan to convey the message through three artistic posters I designed...
The first poster showed a man crawling through the hot desert sand...totally exhausted, panting and dying of thirst.
The second poster depicts the same man drinking a bottle of our ice cold Coca-Cola....and in the third poster, it shows the man now totally refreshed, smiling and happy as a clam.
John continued, "I then had them printed up, and we distributed thousands of these colorful posters, pasting them up all over the place"
"So then, what's the problem? That sounds like a perfect plan. It should have worked great, no?" replied his friend.
John just looked down and remarked, "Well, as it turns out, not only didn't I speak Arabic, I also didn't realize that in Arabic, you read from the right to the left..." --
