You can read this article for yourself, but I prefer the summary from “The Week”, where it came to my attention:
Bad week for: translations, as PETA launched an anti-dairy campaign urging Hispanic youth, Eche la leche. The phrase, literally translated as “dump milk,” is slang for ejaculation.”
Yet another case where marketing screws up a translation. It took Chevrolet years to figure out why the Nova didn’t sell in latin America. The makers of this detergent probably wonder why it doesn’t sell in the US.
A word of caution about translations interpreted out of context
Even though the expression "eche la leche" is constantly used in Spanish language cookbooks all over the world, I have never seen this particular translation issue being raised in the cookbook context. Why does it have to be raised in the context of the PETA's campaign?
Before seriously considering someone's interpretation of any translation, and even more so, an 'out-of-the-intended-context interpretation' of a particular translation, common sense dictates that a basic research should be done before taking it to the news and hurt a well intended campaign.
I can sure think of translations and adaptations that could of much better serve the purpose of this campaign, but PETA and Mr. Rivas-Rivas do not deserve the negative news that the lack of professionalism of the media have generated for publishing such an article without taking care of their due diligence.
Maria Angeles Prieto
SpanLingua