Advertising So Bad It’s Good

What happens when you give funny car junkies (who happen to have their own television show called “Gear Head” on the BBC) the assignment to make a Volkswagen ad? The videos below show the completed ads (and this controversy is months old, but wonderfully new to me).

This series of ads is so wonderfully offensive (and resulted in complaints according to this source) that it seems like a brilliant premeditated viral maneuver. Almost too perfect, right? Even better, you can enjoy the “blow-by-blow” of these ads being created and reviewed by Volkswagon’s advertising agency. Was the “making of” staged completely? Probably, but how much? And how much of the controversy was authorized by Volkswagon?

Anyway it’s a brilliant depiction of the tension between creatives and advertisers, and I can only hope the show’s producers were well compensated by Volkswagon. Seriously- I don’t care about cars, and this was heavenly to me.

To see the show, visit BBC’s TopGear website here. This is bloody brilliant- every bit of it. I need to meet the people behind this, and know the REAL backstory NOW. Then again I’m still trying to hunt down the makers of BWM’s Rampenfest (still have my t-shirt). The Rampenfest site has vanished, but here are the highlights.

How’d you like to be the BBC reporter who had to write this piece for BBC about how a BBC show pissed people off?