VW’s GTI Ads are Pure Genius

Car ads on TV or in print are usually very bad. More often than not, they are built around an image that is more fantasy than anything else, and they are interchangeable -- the Oldsmobuick effect. One happy exception is the latest set of ads for VW’s GTI. They are witty, funny and memorable, and those are rare qualities in advertising.

For those who haven’t seen the ads, they can be viewed online. The three ads feature Swedish actor Peter Stormare (“Awakenings,” “Fargo,” “Windtalkers,” a role in TV series “Prison Break” and the “Frogger” episode of “Seinfeld”) as a Dr. Evil sort of character, along with a blond model reminiscent of an Austin Powers Fembot. Their German accents are in sharp contrast to their hip-hop patois, which alone is amusing, “representing Deutschland, ja,” and “Holding it down on the engineering tip.”

Memorable and amusing, but the ads go farther. They deliberately take on MTV’s “Pimp My Ride,” a truly stupid program in which junk-mobiles get major facelifts by a bodyshop that not only fixes the paint, but adds such useless crap as waterfalls and gas grills in the back. In the ads, Dr. Evil “unpimps the ride” by either dropping something on it or throwing it with a high tech trebuchet.

One car that gets “umpimped” has a giant yellow scoop on the hood to “suck in air,” as the owner explains. Madam Fembot says, “it’s definitely sucking.” In another, a GTI gets dropped on top of “Jason’s 1990s Whatchamacallit.” Dr. Evil notes, “We’ve just dropped it like it’s hot.” And after throwing “Tre’s” car, Dr. Evil says, “Oh, snap. German engineering in the house.” He then twists his fingers gangsta style into a VW sign. Mr. Stormare is going to have residuals from these for a long time, and the creative team deserves Clio nominations.

This campaign has the open-endedness to last as long as the Miller Lite “Tastes Great, Less Filling.” It is the most creative thing in car ads since Joe Isuzu retired. Above all, the viewer remembers exactly whose cars are being promoted. “V Dub in the house.”

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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