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[demon]

Because people die on a daily basis at the hands of suicide bombers.

But no one does in the commercial.

I found the commercial funny myself. It reminded me of real-life stories where dumbshit suicide bombers blow themselves up and don't kill anybody. I'm sorry, but stories like that make me laugh. And so does this commercial.

 

[Nester]

wow and your in the Armed forces? Idiot

Actually, he's not. Just working over there, AFAIK.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Actually, he's not. Just working over there, AFAIK.

well i suppose thats a good thing.

 

[ManaByte]

VW isn't pissed about it at all. It's a viral campaign. There is no such thing as negative publicity, especially to a company whose primary focus is on television--especially given the fact that ad agencies are chopping their television divisions all over the planet because of the decline in television related consumer product sales...To be honest, the work was probably commissioned.

Let me just qualify, this isn't just my opinion...one of my professors was a lead creative for ilovebees...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/commercials/vwpolo.asp

Volkswagen also announced that they would be going ahead and pursuing legal action against the video's creators:

After a week of prevarication, the car giant has decided to go ahead and sue the people behind the advert on the grounds that it was damaging its reputation around the world and falsely linked the VW with terrorism.

"We are taking legal action but because it's early stages we cannot comment further," a Volkswagen spokesman said.

But the company privately admitted that it cannot locate Lee and Dan, the London based advertising creative partnership who dreamed up the film, which has been seen around the world via the internet.

"We are prepared to pursue the two individuals but need to locate them to ensure the success of our legal claim," the company said in a private memo, details of which have been obtained by MediaGuardian.co.uk.

Sounds to me like they're pissed.

 

[Drozmight]

Yeah.... brands are very important.

 

[Mario_Hugo]

I'm suggesting that taking legal action may merely be part of the strategy. It's still additional exposure. For a fraction of the cost of a traditional campaign they've managed to distribute this given quicktime to millions upon millions of computers while positioning themsleves as an opposing binary--VW is indeed "anti-terrorism." It was offensive enough to be linked to across the aim network, websites, even shown on tv. Airtime without the bill. I understand how unfathomable this may all seem, but it's not nearly as unrealistic as you might imagine--traditional advertising is dead. Look around the bend. I've spoken to a number of senior creatives (two of whom creative direct for a nameless gigantic firm here in the city), that have every conviction this is just an underhanded viral strategy.

That said, I'm sorry that I seemed to refute what you'd said. I'm still on the fence.

But given the evolving nature of brands, the revolution in media-based marketing, and the a new science regarding perception and persuasian (name escapes me), I really would ask that you take the media surrounding this ad with a grain of salt.