Tuesday, November 8, 2016

The Zona Rosa's English Problem

EAT
Archie's and the Rock'n Jazz Casino. 
La Zona Rosa, Bogotá's high-end nightlife area, is perhaps notorious for its Yankee influences: TGIF, Hard Rock Cafe, McDonald's, Burger King, and on and on. But I looked around and could hardly find a business name - even Colombian brands - that wasn't an English word. Here's a sampling. 
It's something you find far beyond the Zona Rosa. Bogotá, including even poor neighborhoods where hardly anybody knows English, is saturated with English business names. Do people feel that a gringo title will make them more successful? Make them appear more sophisticated? Give customers more confidence in the business?

Perhaps it works for Colombians. But for someone from North America, at least for me, it all seems like cheap imitation yelling out a mentality of insecurity and inadequacy.

Burger King.

Go Cycling, with, for good measure, 'Columbia'.
 
The Fuga Cafe Bike Studio.
Inside the Fuga the books are all in English.

McDonald's and Chuck e Cheese.




Life Fitness.

Parking, and Zara Home.

Seven Seven and Archie's.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

1 comment:

Stuart Oswald said...

They are successful companies worthy of at least some admiration.