Comments on: UK Set to Ban this VW Golf Ad

By: Pig_Iron

Pig_Iron — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:18:39 +0000

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

By: PeteMoran

PeteMoran — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:31:13 +0000

Meh, it’s an old trick.

Ford put this Ka’s Evil Twin ad on one night in the UK while their PR sent releases out to MSM saying they were “worried” that it would get banned.

It took off massively. Not sure how many Ka’s they sold however.

(It’s my personal, all-time favorite).

By: jkross22

jkross22 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:42:13 +0000

What the hell is wrong with the Brits? I thought PC idiocy was the domain of the US.

Que pasa?

By: Sajeev Mehta

Sajeev Mehta — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:02:51 +0000

Well that ad certainly explains how/why GM made the Pontiac Aztek.

By: ZoomZoom

ZoomZoom — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:43:58 +0000

Katie, welcome back! Now if we can just find out where Megan went off to?

By: Robert Schwartz

Robert Schwartz — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:26:53 +0000

Why did VW make the ad? How is it supposed to sell cars?

By: ProfessorSlow

ProfessorSlow — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:22:30 +0000

That certainly was the most precise commercial I’ve seen today. Although I can’t help dwelling on how much it would hurt to take a brake disc to the shin.

By: SirRoxo

SirRoxo — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:25:38 +0000

DeanMTL, I think you nailed it or…maybe a part of it.

For my 10 second attention span, I thought it was pretty cool.

By: DeanMTL

DeanMTL — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:51:23 +0000

Maybe it was the line at the end, “The only person you have to beat [off] is yourself.”

By: qfrog

qfrog — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:29:24 +0000

How do you say Tyler Durden in German? I rather like the I’m kicking my own ass concept, probably not in the way VW thinks I will. Besides Tyler Durden’s alter ego was a pathetic desk jockey at a faceless auto mfg where he wrote reports on fatal accidents due to faulty engineering/manufacturing. Tyler just took to fighting himself as a hobby… Are there more parallels I’m missing?

Anybody else get the feeling that this advert is VW’s cry for help (from Porsche and product overlap/redundancy) made up to look like a joke, but at the heart of it the sentiment is genuine. Take a moment to think about it.

Great line from Fight Club…. Tyler to himself: You have a kind of sick desperation in your laugh.

By: qfrog

qfrog — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:25:57 +0000

delete please

By: Landcrusher

Landcrusher — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:58:04 +0000

Exactly what is supposed to be the government’s reason for banning this ad? Are they seriously thinking that they will prevent a single act of violence by banning it? Do they think they will somehow improve the lives of car buyers by forcing ads to be more about feeds and speeds?
Do the UK taxpayers actually pay people to do this? Does no one see the opportunity for corruption? How many nieces and nephews can Bob actually have that need jobs?

By: Cammy Corrigan

Cammy Corrigan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:20:28 +0000

John Williams,

If the advert grabs your attention and not the car, then the car is in deep trouble…..

By: ca36gtp

ca36gtp — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:52:29 +0000

It started off cool, and then I started wondering if I was watching a commercial about a balding man in a suit.

By: John Williams

John Williams — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:28:11 +0000

I can see why this advert is going to get banned. It’s rubbish.

What was the point? What exactly did it tell me about the VW Golf’s handling, features, build quality, price, etc…?

Just another ponytailed plonker (Copyright James Dyson) trying to be clever about something they know little about.

On the contrary.

1) It got my attention.
2) It featured the car.
3) Unlike the Toyota commercial you mentioned, it’s unlikely that I’ll end up forgetting it within the next 15 or 20 minutes.

By: mcs

mcs — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:04:55 +0000

Do they realize if they ban this ad they could end up with the “talking beetle” ads as a replacement? I can’t stand those ads.

By: psarhjinian

psarhjinian — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:35:03 +0000

Banned? Why?

I mean, it’s interesting and all, but it’s kind of pointless. Or have I missing something because I’m a sex-and-violence-insenstive member of Gen Y?

By: pariah

pariah — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:16:14 +0000

I thought it was pretty good for a car ad. It was entertaining, at least — much moreso than a montage of sparklingly clean SUVs hitting the trail, or sports cars winding down a coastal road, or chromed-out family haulers with attractive people climbing in and out while smiling at me. Needless to say, it was leagues above and beyond the likes of FIREMEN and COWBOYS “competing” to “win” a new Ram.

Not sure why it would be banned, though. I guess there are just some highly sensitive people in the world who think everybody else should be just like them.

Regardless, no car ad can ever top Honda’s “Cog” from a few years back.

By: CamaroKid

CamaroKid — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:02:28 +0000

My wife has a Black Belt in TaeKwonDo…
The execution of that ad was amazing… The jump side kicks were perfect as were some of the blocks… It was really cool…

Did the UK ban Kung Fu Panda too?

By: no_slushbox

no_slushbox — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:07:36 +0000

It’s not clear that this ad will be banned, but it is clear that there are at least 115 oversensitive, whiny people in Britain (most likely more):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/05/volkswagen-fight-ad-complaints

If the British should have any problem with the ad it should be that it is misleading.

By: Cammy Corrigan

Cammy Corrigan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:03:53 +0000

I can see why this advert is going to get banned. It’s rubbish.

What was the point? What exactly did it tell me about the VW Golf’s handling, features, build quality, price, etc…?

Just another ponytailed plonker (Copyright James Dyson) trying to be clever about something they know little about.

Incidentally, this advert, in my opinion, is the greatest advert Toyota ever did, with their best ever tag line (”It’s time to move forward” comes a close second).

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NlchMEQ9nB4

By: nathaniel

nathaniel — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:51:08 +0000

They seem to be always taking “uptight” to new levels.

By: Detroit-Iron

Detroit-Iron — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:46:33 +0000

The UK is in trouble.

By: John R

John R — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:15:47 +0000

“Mr. Anderson!! Surprised to see me?”

By: Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:08:26 +0000

Making ads so outrageous that they get “banned” used to get them talked about. These days, it gets them on YouTube. It saves a lot of media money. But it takes a lot of guts on the part of the people who approve them.