By on January 6, 2009

Get the latest TTAC e-Newsletter!

Recommended

27 Comments on “UK Set to Ban this VW Golf Ad...”


  • avatar
    Kman

    That was supremely clever! Why the ban? The “fighting” comes across like any Jackie Chan or Jet Li choreographed, pseudo-videogame “fighting”.

  • avatar
    john.fritz

    OK, I’ll bite.

    Why?

  • avatar

    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.

  • avatar
    John R

    “Mr. Anderson!! Surprised to see me?”

  • avatar
    Detroit-Iron

    The UK is in trouble.

  • avatar

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

  • avatar
    KatiePuckrik

    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

  • avatar
    no_slushbox

    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.

  • avatar
    CamaroKid

    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?

  • avatar
    pariah

    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.

  • avatar
    psarhjinian

    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?

  • avatar
    mcs

    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.

  • avatar
    John Williams

    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.

  • avatar
    ca36gtp

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

  • avatar
    KatiePuckrik

    John Williams,

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

  • avatar
    Landcrusher

    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?

  • avatar
    qfrog

    delete please

  • avatar
    qfrog

    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.

  • avatar
    DeanMTL

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

  • avatar

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

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

  • avatar
    ProfessorSlow

    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.

  • avatar
    Robert Schwartz

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

  • avatar
    ZoomZoom

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

  • avatar

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

  • avatar
    jkross22

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

    Que pasa?

  • avatar
    PeteMoran

    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).

  • avatar
    Pig_Iron

    Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Read all comments

Back to TopLeave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Comments

  • Lou_BC: @Carlson Fan – My ’68 has 2.75:1 rear end. It buries the speedo needle. It came stock with the...
  • theflyersfan: Inside the Chicago Loop and up Lakeshore Drive rivals any great city in the world. The beauty of the...
  • A Scientist: When I was a teenager in the mid 90’s you could have one of these rolling s-boxes for a case of...
  • Mike Beranek: You should expand your knowledge base, clearly it’s insufficient. The race isn’t in...
  • Mike Beranek: ^^THIS^^ Chicago is FOX’s whipping boy because it makes Illinois a progressive bastion in the...

New Car Research

Get a Free Dealer Quote

Who We Are

  • Adam Tonge
  • Bozi Tatarevic
  • Corey Lewis
  • Jo Borras
  • Mark Baruth
  • Ronnie Schreiber