<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110712814366540531,00.html>
The Wall Street Journal
January 31, 2005
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Tough But Humorless
January 31, 2005
A Middle Eastern-looking man, dressed in fatigues, an Arafat-style
checkered Kafiya and sunglasses drives a black VW Polo to a busy
street-side caf�. The man then detonates an explosive belt but the sturdy
car contains the blast without even so much as cracking a window, thus
saving the bystanders, who don't even notice the explosion. At the end, the
manufacturer's logo and the car's famous slogan appear: "Polo. Small but
tough."
This fake commercial has been circulating for about two weeks online. It is
an example of what industry-insiders call viral marketing: The assumption
is that each ad recipient (infected) will send it on to more than one other
user, spreading the message like an epidemic. Sometimes companies use this
technique to reach a younger audience and to give themselves a slightly
edgier image. If the message backfires they have plausible deniability and
can simply distance themselves from the ad.
In this case, though, a London-based duo known for their spoof advertising
called Lee and Dan (LeeandDan.com1) acknowledged that Europe's biggest
carmaker wasn't involved.
That's not enough for VW, however. The ad "glorifies violence, shows
contempt for humanity and is criminal," VW spokesman Hartwig von Sass told
us. The company has pressed charges against anonymous parties (Lee and Dan
don't reveal their full names on their Web site) and a German prosecutor is
investigating whether this is a case of racial incitement.
Why, with daily examples of real suicide attacks by Middle Eastern
terrorists this in any way qualifies as racism is beyond us. But it does
seem to bolster another popular stereotype: Germans might build sturdy cars
but they sometimes lack a sense of humor, especially black humor.
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The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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