Skewered: The french idiot

A badger as a traffic ambassador is already a little strange in its approach. After all, a badger is neither as clever as a fox, nor as colorful as a parrot with a quasi-natural safety vest, nor as nimble as a weasel that could dart across the often life-threatening Swiss crosswalks. So why Axa Winterthur opted for a badger as the guardian of the golden warning triangle will remain its secret. "The badger is a compact, stocky earth marten with a slender head, a trunk-like snout and strong digging paws," says Wikipe- dia. But that's not all: Max, the badger, is also an idiot. At least on the other side of the Röstigraben.

But first things first: Every child (and every adult) knows Max the badger, the heraldic animal of Axa Winterthur. His job is to encourage children to behave correctly and safely in road traffic. The clever badger appears in commercials and fills posters and books with wisdom from road traffic: "Stop, stop, it's red!" That's a good thing, because kids love and obey Max the badger. The little animal sometimes annoys adults with his super-smart mode. But Max doesn't deserve to be called an idiot.

Is it dawning?

Nevertheless, the badger has now made a monkey of himself in Axa Winterthur's current nationwide "twilight campaign". This is because in the French-speaking part of Switzerland he comes across as "Max le Blaireau", Max the idiot. Of course, Blaireau means "badger", but also "shaving brush" or simply "brush". And anyone who is called that in French is considered an idiot by the person calling them. The supposedly renowned translator from Axa (or, more precisely, from Nord-Süd Verlag, which realized the project for Axa) should have known this. But she didn't! The French translation not only loses rhyme and wit, as is so often the case when translating into another language. It also exposes the mascot and everything it stands for to ridicule. At last, the Romands were once again able to laugh heartily and maliciously at the Suisses toto. And they did so extensively. On Facebook and YouTube, in emails and on the street.

The situation is even more embarrassing because Axa Winterthur has been part of the French Axa Group for a few years now. It's almost unbelievable that no one in the entire company noticed the ambiguity of Max le Blaireau. Presumably there are simply no idiots there. A press spokeswoman points to the Nord-Süd publishing house as the culprit, and in any case they have learned from the mistake and simply deleted "le Blaireau" - at least on the posters. In Welschland, Max is now simply Max. A bit naked for everyone who knows Max the badger. But still better than a jerk as a mascot. In the books, Max remains an idiot until a new edition is due. For ecological reasons. The badgers say thank you. "If you lie, you'll see in the dark," proclaims Max in the current campaign. That's right. And if you know French, you'll also be understood in French-speaking Switzerland. Vous avez compris?