Brands or products which do not make it across different languages are a dime a dozen - Mazda Laputa? Mitsubishi Pajero? (try Spanish for both) Honda Fitta? (try Swedish/Danish/Norwegian) Bing? (try Chinese) and the list goes on endlessly. Sometimes one can be forgiven - Coca-Cola means "bite the wax tadpole" - so eventually the drink giant opted for Kě kǒu kě lè which means "delicious, enjoyable" or "happiness in the mouth". Close enough. So yes, sometimes names of companies or products do not exactly translate well in other languages, cultures.
Well, Kylie Jenner changed her son's name from "Wolf" at birth to "Aire" - which is supposed to be Hebrew for "lion of God", apparently it is not - but what it does mean is "male organ in Arabic slang". But that's Kylie Jenner, she is American, non-Arabic speaking, and well with cousins such as "Psalm" "Chicago" "Saint" - and that's just from half-sister Kim - she is forgiven for trying hard (pardon the pun) to get a name that sands out from the crowd.
Which brings us to Almarai. According to Wikipedia, "Almarai Company is a Saudi multinational dairy company listed on the Tadawul stock exchange. It specializes in food and beverage manufacturing, including distribution. The company's main offices are located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." In other words, they speak Arabic, they are immersed in Arab culture, and they are distributed in Lebanon via major supermarkets.
Kind note, what Aire is to grown up men, haboor is the equivalent to small children.
Suffice to say they did not make enough research for sure, the comments on their social media are enough reflection of that (here). Basically, from the funny, to the witty, to the bewildered, everyone is trying their own version of the joke.
And seriously if Almarai claims to be as Arab as it is, maybe, just maybe they could have consulted different Arabic-speaking cultures before jumping on this. Kylie Jenner is not a reliable consultant in that case.
