One of the hottest marketing topics in February 2013 has been the Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial. It has sparked a controversial debate about whether it is culturally insensitive and racist (Clarke, 2013). This led to some critics accusing Volkswagen of creating a racist advertisement and requested the advertisement be removed before being aired on Super Bowl day but Volkswagen decided to follow through with the commercial. On the other hand there were others that perceived the commercial as hilarious. The chief product and marketing officer clearly stated that Volkswagen’s actual intention was not to create a controversial advertisement but was trying to convey that a positive attitude and feeling of happiness and relaxation is associated with the VW brand. Unfortunately there were some who misinterpreted and associated the way someone speaks with the colour of their skin (Silva-Braga, 2013). This commercial was titled ‘Get Happy’ and was aligned with keeping with their themes of adding humour to the situation which was done by the Super Bowl advertisements of 2011 and 2012.
The commercial for 2011 was titled ‘The Force’ and featured a little boy trying to use his supernatural powers to start machinery with no success until his father parks his new Passat into the driveway. He is then able to start the car without his knowledge that his father is using the remote starter. This commercial got seen by millions on Super Bowl day and had more than 17 million hits on YouTube