Thoughts about the new VW commercials.

Have you seen the new Volkswagen Jetta commercials?  Wow!  After I saw them, that was the first thing I said.  And, I think, I repeated that phrase on each repeat viewing as well.  Don’t worry if you haven’t seen them yet  and are worried I will ruin some surprise.  You probably won’t see it coming anyway.  

 Both commercials start out very unassuming, and wiht someone driving a Jetta and having a casual conversation with the passenger(s).  At first, you might not realize it is a car commercial.  And then, all of a sudden, through no fault of the Jetta driver, a very realistic car wreck happens.  If it catches you off guard, which I believe is what the ad is designed to do, it is very much akin to a jump scene at a scary movie.  These are not small fender benders either.  The first thing you think about is how badly the people are hurt.  Which leads to the next scene in which everyone who was in the car is shown visible shaken by the accident but otherwise very ok.  The new VW slogan which is, “Safe Happens,” is then shown.  

After I saw this I immediately thought two things.  First was, “wow, that was a weird, almost scary commercial.”  And the second was, “that car must be really safe.”  I realize that it is just a commercial and none of it was real but they still made their point.

 Now, my second thought was, what they were going for with these tv spots?  However, I wonder, if a lot of people might just think it is a disturbing commercial.  Usually, car companies want the thought of an accident to be far from anyone’s mind when their commercials are running.  This is a bold strategy for Volkswagen and it will interesting to see how people react to it.

See Also

• Autowarranties.com
  Do you need an extended warranty
• Auto Makers and Their Suppliers
  recent news about auto part suppliers