Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Volkswagen Ad: Bad Sounding?

My last post centered around the poor timing of Verizon ads, which give me the creepy feeling of "Big Brother is Listening to Me".

Today I'd like to write a blurb about how annoying this new Volkswagen commercial is. At least I think it's a VW advertisement, but to be honest it annoys me so much that I can't even stand to pay attention to it enough to look at what company is torturing me.

So here's the summary of the commercial:

Guy and gal are in a car showroom (how innovative).
They see a car they like and start to get close to it.
The car's alarm starts up and car starts beeping obnoxiously.
They back off.
Alarm goes silent.
They step forward again.
The alarm blares again.
Guy and gal can't figure out why, but they keep inching in towards car.
Turns out-- are you ready?-- a buyer upstairs is hitting the alarm button on the remote just to mess with them.

So not only are the people looking at the car complete idiots (is that the kind of message you want to convey about your customers? -Ed.), but the commercial insists on blasting the horn repetitively.

Sorry folks, but in my book it don't get much more annoying than that. Most people that drive hear horns every single day and don't particularly want to come home, relax on the couch, and get hit with them from a lame commercial because some marketing flunkie misread the focus group reports that people really "Don't like to hear horns repetitively."

That's my sound-off for today. Thanks for tuning in. Next time I'll try to focus on something more positive and less headache-inducing.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

no joke, I googled "annoying volkswagen" just to see if anyone else thought this commercial was as stupid as I did.

I seriously have to change the station before it can finish because it is SO DAMN ANNOYING. Seriously, horrible advertising there.

Ryan Ummel said...

I agree, this ad is by far one of the most annoying ones out. When I first heard it I got angry because I thought someone was letting their car alarm run in the parking lot. When I figured out it was the commercial, I didn't laugh, I didn't smile. I vowed to never buy VW.

Anonymous said...

It's easily one of the worst ads ever. It's woken me from sound sleep. It freaks my pets out. I'd rather listen to the "Head On" ad for a whole day than this VW dud.

Anonymous said...

Wow! This is one of the first links I checked on when gleening info about this wacked out commercial. I'm wondering who I should write to in order to get this annoying, idiotic commercial off the air. I mentioned the same thing you did in a post with other friends about how we hear enough noise on the streets. Whew! Glad I'm not the only one. I hope my poor remote survives this crap!

Anonymous said...

Ok, thank GOD someone agrees with me. Its to the point where i have to turn the channel or mute it when it comes on, im SOOO sick of it. Even the guys expression as hes pushing the alarm makes me want to give him a firm bitch slap!

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more. Had to look this commercial up just to see if others had noticed what a damn annoying thing it was - both from the whole repeating horn noise, and also the smug dude laughing under his breath at the yuppie/hipster couple. Couple that with it playing during EVERY NCAA tourney commercial break, and you have insanity.

Anonymous said...

I agree. This commercial is played constantly on ESPN during the NCAA tournament, so it's possible to have to suffer every five minutes or so. It is by far the most annoying commercial I've ever seen. I'm also a little confused as to the point of the ad, unless it's that VW owners are idiots as you've already pointed out. Could also go to show that VW owners are cruel, petty jerks as well.

Anonymous said...

Agree wholeheartedly with everyone here. Besides objecting to the blaring horn, I have to say I don't get the point . . . is VW saying that it is funny for one customer to taunt another . . . or its funny if one customer discourages another customer from even viewing the merchandise? I have to figure out which ad agency is behind this nonsense. I agree with the poster that the character beeping the horn needs the stuffing knocked out of him!

CowGoesMoo2u said...

http://www.vw.com/customerservice/contactus/en/us/#

Send them a comment on what you think about their commercial from that page. The more the better.

Anonymous said...

I can't stand this ad. There is nothing worse than to be watching tv late night and to have this ad come on and have to rush to mute the sound so the extremely annoying and repetitive beeping doesn't annoy my neighbors. What idiot thought that a commercial consisting of annoying honking would be a good idea?

Anonymous said...

hate this commerial man. I actually hit the mute button when it airs - have never done this before. I'm not big on VWs - Now I'll never think of buying one. It's tough cuz I love clooge hoop.

Anonymous said...

ESPN is putting this commercial on constantly while I am trying to watch WNCAA. I HATE this commercial and tried to e-mail the company from thier site. Of course they make it impossible. If you are reading this call volkswagon and tell them you wouldn't step foot into one of thier dealerships or drive thier car if it was free. They suck!

Schuyler said...

Please let VW and their ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky know how much you hate this ad.

info@cpbgroup.com

VW public relations
steve.keyes@vw.com, thomas.wegehaupt@vw.com, clark.campbell@vw.com, keith.price@vw.com

Anonymous said...

How do I contact VW to complain about this piece of crap ad??

Anonymous said...

How do i contact VW to complain about this ad??

(Not that they care a lot, I'm sure!)

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! I am, of course, referring to everyone's comments here - not the ad. It's an embarassment. I've fought the urge to google people's reactions but asked a few others' and EVERYONE'S is the same - where's the remote?! What's next - secret manure catapults from a happy buyer?! Equally 'smart', but at least silent.

Anonymous said...

Please make it stop. I like VW. I like Crispin. But I'm rethinking everything I've ever known about either because of one excruciatingly awful commercial. Whoever wrote and art directed this should be kicked in the shins in sync with the honking everytime the ad airs. Same goes for the VW marketing geniuses who approved it, the actors who participated, and the director who shot it. On the bright side, I'm watching a lot less TV simply because I fear stumbling across this spot!

Anonymous said...

just curious... Any idea where i can view this ad online?

Mike said...

Thanks all for the great comments. Against better blogging advice, I've just kind of sat back and enjoyed the show. It's pretty rare that visitors to any given blog agree on one issue, but apparently this one has hit a nerve with people. Way to go VW!

To answer the last comment, no, I have yet to find that ad online though I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up on youtube.

Take care all and thanks for checking in!

Anonymous said...

I hate this ad and wouldn't by a VW just because of it. It's worse than finger nails on a chalk board. It is the worst ad on TV. I can't imagine why they don't hear people and remove it NOW.

Anonymous said...

It's as annoying as the yuppies who buy Volkswagens. it actually fits that group well.

Anonymous said...

Oh, what sweet relief -- to see that I am not the only one who HATES this commercial. And I have owned VWs, and love them! But I hate everything about this ad -- from the vacuous Asian woman, her blank stare, and the way she says, "I love it" to the LOUD horn blasting, to how strange it is that one customer is taunting another one... I change the channel every single time the commercial comes on.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely hate this commercial. Not only does it grate on my nerves from the noise, but I hate the snide way the new VW owner handles someone looking at "his" effing volkswagon. Way to sell cars. I want to throw something through the t.v. when this horrid commercial comes on.

Anonymous said...

I love the new VW commercials. I thought this link below may make a few people laugh.
It’s Herbie being navigated by Mr. T

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LbLDuYGPBs

Anonymous said...

i wrote music for that ad :-(

kaisachi said...

VW seems to think an irritating/annoying ad campaign would translate into sales for them. Add to the alarm button ad the ones where some idiot punches someone else whenever he/she spots a VW. "Blue one!" he/she declares. I HATE those commercials! If I were on the receiving end of that punch, I'd want to pull out a gun and shoot the puncher in the kneecaps - it annoys me that much! It has such a negative effect on me I would NEVER buy a VW!