VW Jetta Ads Are A Double Negative

Anyone seen the (fairly) new VW television ads for their Jetta? Specifically we're talking about the spots where their cars always seem to be getting T-boned and totaled.

Call us old-fashioned, but when we went to film & advertising school (Pasadena's Art Center College of Design), we recall several of our favorite teachers drumming the message, "NEVER relate your client or your product with a negative" into our heads.

Admit it: have you seen these commercials and thought, "Wow. Those Jettas sure can take a licking! I gotta get me one."

We've NEVER had those thoughts.

In the first place, we don't enjoy seeing nice folks getting the stuffing knocked out of them while we're eating dinner. Secondly, we always chuckle to ourselves and think, "Yeah, right. Like VW would have the guts to tell us what REALLY happened to that car."

Well here's where it gets downright DiVinci Code-ish:

Get out your TiVo's, gang, and take a look at the very end of those Jetta commercials. Read the fine print.

Buried in the nearly non-existent sized font you'll see that VW actually backs-down from any claims that the Jetta is more safe than anything else running on four wheels. VW also makes it pretty clear (or as clear as you can in a teensy-weensy type that's only on-screen for a couple of seconds) that their airbags are as vulnerable to failure as anyone else's airbags (and they DO fail).

Yep. Now that VW got your attention, can they keep you safe?

Seems not.