Advertising is a mysterious black art to many of us. So many of today's campaigns lean more on the subliminal than on the stuff they used to cite in the old days ... things like information and comedy.
Thankfully, companies like Volkswagen still persevere with chuckle-worthy ads like this one for the new Polo in the UK.
It follows a 'problematic' child as he grows into a young adult, depicting the progression from being haphazard as a kid to being a bit of a nob behind the wheel as an adult — his Dad spiritually replaced over time by the Polo's advanced safety tech.
And that all sounds fine, doesn't it?
Well, this commercial has one big problem; complaints have subsequently seen it banned in the United Kingdom by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).
Watch it first, tap your toes to the tunes of the Black Keys, try to find out why an ad that seems perfectly fine attracted these complaints, then swing back here for the reasoning.
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Watched it?
Good, OK. Nice ad, wasn't it?
The reason it was banned, according to the ASA, was for 'encouraging irresponsible driving'. Believe it or not.
The ad skips over two of the ASA's rules.
Firstly; “advertisements must not condone or encourage dangerous, competitive, inconsiderate or irresponsible driving or motorcycling. Advertisements must not suggest that driving or motorcycling safely is staid or boring.”
And secondly; “motoring advertisements must not exaggerate the benefit of safety features to consumers or suggest that a vehicle’s features enable it to be driven or ridden faster or in complete safety”.
In short, non-commercial speak, that means that this innocent enough Polo ad falls over the moment it depicts the driver relying on the blind-spot monitoring and pedestrian monitoring to not crash on the road or hit the pedestrian.
“The car was not shown to be driven dangerously and there was nothing that condoned or encouraged dangerous, competitive, inconsiderate or irresponsible driving,” said Volkswagen, in response to the ban.
"The purpose of the ad was to promote safe and responsible driving, and to highlight how the car’s Advanced Safety Systems could help drivers to manage certain hazards in safety”.
PC gone mad? Or is it "irresponsible" to imply that these safety tools are perfectly fine to rely upon?
You be the judge.