BUSINESS: Volkswagen To Sue Over Car Bomb Ad

A commercial accidently released on the Internet depicts a Miiddle Eastern suicide bomber blowing himself up in a VW Polo automobile. The advertisement - with a tagline of "Polo. Small but tough." - was meant to show the sturdiness of the car, since it contained the explosion. The spot was produced by the British group "Lee and Dan" who claim Volkswagen did not request the ad.



Although a bit comical on its face, this ad was in horrible taste given the number of people dying due to car bombs in the middle east. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't released accidently but in an attempt to get publicity on behalf of the renegade agency. VW is absolutely right to pursue legal action against the producers of the spot since it could evolve into a public relations nightmare if consumers believe this to be a genuine Volkswagen commercial.

Related News Links:
www.revolutionmagazine.com
media.guardian.co.uk
www.leeanddan.com

[edit on 20-1-2005 by Banshee]

Here's a link to the video:
www.brandrepublic.com...#

Direct link to video:
VW_20_3b.mov

Poor taste for these days when people are getting killed by car bombs every day but not overly offensive to me.

EDIT: Here's another link in case that one goes down:
www.boreme.com...

[edit on 20-1-2005 by AceOfBase]

i think it's brilliant. if the suicide bomber thing wasn't so bad then i'm sure VW wouldn't mind having that as their advert. it does show their car to be very strong.

I agree the ad is funny but it does seem to make light of car bombings and could also be considered racist by some. I've worked at an ad agency before and I know large companies spend millions and millions a year carefully tailoring their image through commercials and having something like this unauthorized questionable spot come out could ruin the image they've worked so hard to present.

I think it would have been beter just to leave a bomb in there, and have a person close the door before you hear the muffled thud.

No need to include terrorists.

Everybody needs to lighten up. We have to laugh at our circumstances or they will overwhelm us. Who is it who has the signature: Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think. Tragedy and Comedy are two sides of the same coin.

Maybe I am just sick but I loved it.

I agree with Grady people need to lighten up, if we cant laugh about things then whats the point.

This is in such poor taste .. I mean, it is kinda funny and it does show teh sturdiness of teh car, but all in all this is just wrong.
So many people are dying in suicide bombings, practically daily now. And they must have seen the news and know that this wasn't going to go over well.
I think that VW has every right to sue them, and if they didn't I woudl think it would display an agreeance on behalf of VW with this add and that too would fall lieka ton of bricks,.
If this honestly had ever made ot to TV it woudl encourage those nut jobs to blow more things up.

*Z*

It seems like all the old links are dead, but Snopes has it:

www.snopes.com...

If all else fails youtube it.

[edit on 9/26/2006 by cyberdude78]

Youtube it I did, already. Watched it earlier.

Link to Video

What offends me is using terrorism to attract business. I consider that to be very sick. Muslims are offended, I can see that. However I think we all should be offended by mass marketing terror to increase sales.

Kinda strange they are going after this now, the video is years old.

Originally posted by thematrix
Kinda strange they are going after this now, the video is years old.

Interesting point, but the Dutch cartoons were held on to for a while before they caused trouble. I have a feeling that what we're seeing is the mirror reflection of what is done to us with terrorism stories put out by the US Gov't.

This story is from last year, but I get the feeling that it's still relevant because it begs a couple questions. What's acceptable in marketing? When is political correctness going too far?

I can't honestly say where the line should be drawn, all I can tell you is that this isn't past that line in my opinion. It was clearly a joke so I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the usage of terrorism in an inappropriate manner. As Grady had said, we may as well have a good laugh about the state of the world. Because without being able to laugh in the face of danger and death this would be one boring world.

The fact that they wouldnt run this ad, and more so the fact that they sued the guys who did, describes everything thats wrong with this world.