In a smack in the face to all English-speaking Australians, Motorola, which is a Chinese smartphone Company owned by Lenovo, has a new take on the word ‘Colour’, with the business now deciding the new way to spell colour in Australia is Color.
Originally a US brand, Motorola was sold to the Chinese who are now making a comeback with the brand which they are desperate to position as a US Company.
The Company now appears to be pushing American spelling on Australian journalists, and sent out a press local Australian press release announcing their new special-edition $899 edge 30 fusion smartphone that comes in Pantone’s colour of the year Viva Magenta, but instead of spelling the word colour the way Australians spell it management appear to now be trying to force the use of the American spelling of the word, which is Color.
When ChannelNews challenged the use of the American spelling we were told that we had to use the US version.
In a statement issued by their PR Company Zeno Group, a division of the US-owned Edelman, to ChannelNews, management wrote, “The spelling has also caused a lot of conversation amongst the team! To clarify, when referring to Pantone’s official title, ‘Pantone Color of the Year’, Pantone’s preference is to use the US spelling in all comms.”
Even my Word spelling engine struggled with using the word Color by constantly trying to update to the English language version.
Motorola management in Australia have not said why they are trying to change the English language in Australia. Maybe it’s just another Woke change that brands are trying to push in Australia. Or maybe they are hoping that kids will start using the yank spelling over the Australian spelling.
