The Volkswagen advertisement was created as a spoof advertisement by London based viral and humorous advertisement creators Lee Ford and Dan Brooks.
The internet based advertisement shows a man of middle-eastern decent walking down the stairs at the front of a house and getting into a Volkswagen Polo. He is wearing dark green and camouflaged clothing, and “sports a black-and-white chequered kaffiyeh like the one commonly associated in the public mind with the late Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat – and thus, by extension, with terrorists and suicide bombers�? (Snopes.com). The context of the ad is located within a developed urban setting, as the car drives to the front of a busy café. The driver then picks up a device with a green button, which he then depresses. Next an explosion takes place, but the blast is completely contained within the Volkswagen Polo, and there is no damage done to the outside world, and the only life lost is that of the driver. This leads to a slogan at the end of the advert that states, ‘Polo. Small but tough.’
Even though this Volkswagen advert was “2005’s most forwarded viral email�? (Brooks and Ford), there was much controversy and reason for concern over the subliminal messages conveyed in the ad, as well as the question of ‘who were the creators of it?’ A reason for this is that Volkswagen claimed that they had nothing to do with the making of such media, as “The car giant decided the short film was damaging to its international reputation and falsely linked it with terrorism�? (Brooks and Ford). After such concerns, it was found that the individuals who had dreamed up the film, “Dan Brooks, 30, and Lee Ford, 32, are suddenly hot media property�? (Brooks and Ford). As now they had to contend with allegations made by the international automotive manufacturer. Stories started arising all over the media, as one such headline that was printed in ‘The Observer’ states, “It looks like an ad, but it’s just an internet hoax. And VW are mad�? (Brooks and Ford).
After many unknown factors arose, Lee and Dan made a stance as they told that they “made the advert for Volkswagen. We never really intended it for public consumption. It was principally something we made to show people in the industry but it got out somehow�? (Snopes.com). They continued by stating, “The car is the hero that protects innocent people from someone with very bad intentions. The ad got out accidentally and spread like wildfire. We're sorry if it has caused any offence�? (Snopes.com). Still, Volkswagen thought this wasn’t enough after the company name had been damaged in such a way, so they “announced that they would be going ahead and pursuing legal action against the video's creators�? (Snopes.com).
When evaluating how this advertisement, ‘ran its life’ as a form of Viral Marketing, wether it was legal or not, it can be described as nothing less than a success. This is because viral adverts usually rely on humour or some type of quirky charm, instead of a huge budget. This is evident time and time again, as a company can “spend $10,000 or $1 million on a marketing campaign, but in the end, the best ads are the ones that transcend their main purpose and become entertainment�? (Bannan, 2000).
Bannan, K. (2000) “It’s catching�?, Brandweek. Vol. 41, Iss 23, pIQ20. ISSN 10644318
Brooks, D., and Ford, L. (2005) “Lee and Dan,�? retrieved October 21, 2005 from http://www.leeanddan.com/
Snopes.com. (2005) “Polo Blow,�? retrieved October 21, 2005, from http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/vwpolo.asp
Daniel clark 08:20, 28 Oct 2005 (EST)
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