is volkswagen bold or stupid across france workmen have been busy scraping off 10,000 billboard advertisments for its new Golf following furious complaints from the Catholic Church. In a series of posters, the German carmaker's model was linked to a religious revelation; one that showed Jesus at the last supper recommending the car to his disciples.
VW's agency DDB Needham doubtless thought its advertising was ironic and extremely up-to-date. After all, the admen presumably figured, if outrageous advertising worked for the likes of Benetton, it could work to revive the image of the Golf, which is frankly rather old-fashioned.
After the Catholic Church threatened to sue for Ffr 3.3 m ($550,000) to obtain reparation for the damage suffered by Christians the agency and the carmaker confessed to their sins and agreed to remove the ads. We have no disrespect for the fundamental values of society nor for the beliefs of the faithful, said a spokesperson for DDB Needham. We decided to retract the posters immediately i n order to show our respect for the faith and the feelings expressed by certain believers. The agency's penance has included making a substantial donation to a Catholic charity.
European consumers are exposed to hundreds of commercial messages a day, but the vast majority of these are ignored, so ads which shock have become more popular with advertisers. It is believed that these ads force consumers to listen to their message. But some adland thinkers argue that it's little more complicated than that.