The Fast and The Dubious

During the Olympics, Mrs. F and I were treated to a lot more commercials than we normally are, thanks to our TiVo being on the fritz (which forced us to watch TV live, a novel concept for us as we normally time-slip through television thanks to the pause and record features). And one of the sets of commercials that got a lot of play were Volkswagen's new campaign f0r its GTI, which centers on a demonic voice (referred to as "My Fast") that only speaks to young frat boys who watch The Fast and The Furious one too many times. Here's a sample of one of the spots from Slate's Ad Report Card:

A young guy and his girlfriend are driving at high speed. Her hair is whipping around in her face. "Honey, can we roll the window up a little bit?" she asks. "No," says the guy. Cut to a frightening little onyx-black gargoyle, perched on the back seat. "My Fast likes the windows down," the creature says in a demonic growl. "Down! Down!" it yells, though its mouth does not move. The unfortunate woman continues to plead her case, talking through her swirling hair. "Sweetie," interrupts the boyfriend, "it's really hard for me to enjoy the sound of the engine with all that yakking." We see the small back-seat beastie again. "Sometimes," says the evil basso voice, "my Fast doesn't get along with my girlfriend."

And here's a bit more from the Slate article on the demographic:

The GTI is—as Volkswagen eagerly noted on the phone with me—a "hot hatch" and a "pocket rocket." It's the kind of car that appeals to hyper-aggressive young knuckleheads. And so the other three spots in the campaign center on 1) speeding, 2) reckless driving in inclement weather, and 3) more female-hating. ("My Fast makes it hard to have a relationship," says the demon voice in this last spot, after a guy exiles his girlfriend from his GTI because he'd "rather not carry the extra weight.") This strategy makes perfect sense when a car's main selling point is horsepower-per-dollar.

Suffice it to say, Mrs. F was turned off of Volkswagen by this and the other ads in the campaign--and we've been seriously considering going for a VW diesel sometime in the next year (to take advantage of our local, growing biodiesel market). I don't think that we'll necessarily change our mind solely based on these advertisements (c'mon--we're not the kind of folks who are swayed by ads... we're smarter than that... hmmm... y'know, five blades probably give you the ultimate shave...). But it certainly is placing an emotional damper on our perception of the Volkswagen brand (perception being the biggest thing when advertising a brand), and I'm sure we're not the only ones who are feeling the brakes applied.

Slate's Ad Report gives it an A-, which I'm sure reflects that it's a good fit for the demographic that Volkswagen is going for. But they really do turn me and Mrs. F off, and that can't be good for the overall branding of VW.