Car Commercials That Missed the Mark?

Kinja'd!!! "gokstate" (gokstate10)
05/21/2020 at 10:04 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 15

VW apparently recently posted, then pulled a racist appearing commercial for the Mk 8 Golf

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Audi had a mother comparing a bride to be to used cars in China

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What other car commercials have created controversy?


DISCUSSION (15)


Kinja'd!!! KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > gokstate
05/21/2020 at 10:15

Kinja'd!!!0

Kinja'd!!!


Kinja'd!!! gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
05/21/2020 at 10:19

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Wasn’t it revealed she was also 15?


Kinja'd!!! Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > gokstate
05/21/2020 at 10:21

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Tbh I didn’t see the VW Golf ad is racist - it’s just a person being manipulated as a puppet. What does it matter what color they are? If it was any other race would it still be wrong?

Am I missing something, was there a puppet-related term or a specific event I’m not aware of? I don’t have an agenda here, promise , I just genuinely don’t get it.


Kinja'd!!! Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
05/21/2020 at 10:24

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“Wow, that’s old!”

- The French


Kinja'd!!! gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
05/21/2020 at 10:29

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Kinja'd!!! Merkin Muffley > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
05/21/2020 at 10:38

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Love that bit. Schwabia is DEFINITELY the Alabama of Europe. 


Kinja'd!!! facw > gokstate
05/21/2020 at 10:46

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I recall this one being extremely poorly received:


Kinja'd!!! Merkin Muffley > facw
05/21/2020 at 10:50

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Cant trivialize the tide of robot suicides due to computervirus.


Kinja'd!!! The Ghost of Oppo > gokstate
05/21/2020 at 12:11

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Last year, VW apologized after CEO Herbert Diess used the expression “Ebit macht frei,” or “Ebit sets you free,” at a management event. Ebit is short for earnings before interest and tax and is a measure of company profits. The phrase sounds similar to “Arbeit macht frei,” which was inscribed on the gates of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

From a CNN story on this current ad


Kinja'd!!! DipodomysDeserti > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
05/21/2020 at 12:43

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The cafe in the ad is called “Petit Colon” which translates to Little Colonist which apparently plays into the racism?

I don’t get it either.

I know Germans and Argentinians are pretty fucking racist without this subtle ad.


Kinja'd!!! Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > DipodomysDeserti
05/21/2020 at 16:23

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Ok well then maybe all these factors (which singled out, could be coincidences) add up:
-White hands puppeting (is that a verb even?) a black person
-German car company in previously colonized Africa
-faded letters can spell “neger”, german for n-word
-Petit Colon for Little colonialist

No idea, I’m not here to pass judgement. I think we can definitely call it insensitive - and an ad with so many little hints should have been checked from higher-ups more thoroughly. Only the person behind it knows if it was really meant to be racist I guess.


Anyway, I still want to add my own pitch - this ad probably wouldn’t air today. I remember when it was on TV here and everyone loved it.


Kinja'd!!! DipodomysDeserti > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
05/21/2020 at 16:45

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That’s a great ad. There’s this old gem, which I think is more blatantly offensive. Still pretty clever. I think VW paid these guys for this, despite them claiming they were on their own.


Kinja'd!!! Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > DipodomysDeserti
05/21/2020 at 17:41

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Yeah I love that one, really funny stuff.


Kinja'd!!! gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Merkin Muffley
05/21/2020 at 22:02

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Ruge n may give them a run for their money. from what one oppo said, b eautiful area, but you may hear banjos.


Kinja'd!!! pip bip - choose Corrour > DipodomysDeserti
05/22/2020 at 07:25

Kinja'd!!!1

i thought of that one too