Original Advertisement

Brief Analysis of the Original Ad

This advertisement from Volkswagen presents a state of the art feature on their main line of SUV’s. This feature, which Volkswagen calls “Side Assist”, allows drivers to become aware surrounding traffic or obstacles through the use of censors, leading to a safer driving experience. In the advertisement there is a car which is hidden underneath a sheet which is meant to symbolize that in the road there can be things that you may not be able to see.

 

What makes this advertisement somewhat ironic is the fact that in 2015, Volkswagen was discovered to be guilty for tampering with emissions-tests for several lines of diesel cars in the United States. They did this by equipping their vehicles with software that allowed them to fool emission standards tests, by changing cars performance while being tested to fabricate better results, hiding the truth. The main reason behind this was to push sales of diesel cars in the US by claiming that the cars emitted less emissions leading consumers to believe that by driving these cars they are reducing their carbon footprint.

 

This idea relates to what Slajov Zizek says about consumer capitalism as shown in module 1.3. Zizek believes that when consumers believe that they are buying a product that creates some sort of social benefit, consumers will be happier with their purchase decision. Zizek goes on to explain that by actually devoting money to a cause one is passionate about, it serves better purpose than just buying goods or services which are “ethical.”

 

Through this advertisement Volkswagen claims to show what is being hidden in driver’s blind spots, when in reality what is really hiding is a bigger problem. By lying to their customers about the environmental impact of their cars, it allowed the company to make profits based on false information. Through my jam, I plan to expose what Volkswagen is really hiding and show what they are really hiding.

Jammed Advert

 

My Jamming Philosophy

What attracted me the most to this particular advertisement from Volkswagen is that fact that they want their audience to “See what is hidden.” Through trying to be clever and use this to illustrate a new vehicle feature, they ironically played into their own demise as the company was hiding something much greater.

In the edited photo that I made of the original advertisement I crossed out what Volkswagen’s original purpose of the ad, which was to inform consumers about the new feature, and instead wrote in red lettering, “11 million fraudulent vehicles.” I did this to symbolize that there was something else that Volkswagen was hiding from the public. In the bottom right of the picture, instead of the typical “Das Auto” slogan, I replaced it with “Das Emissions” which can be read as “the emissions.” I also included one of their most popular vehicles and showed gray smoke coming out of the back to symbolize the pollution.

 

My jammed advertisement reveals that Volkswagen, although claiming to be a Corporate Social Enterprise, had lied to its customers and to the world. Through my jammed advertisement, I hope to inspire consumers to see that although companies may say that they do something for the greater good, there is no way to be absolutely sure if the company is telling the truth or not. Volkswagen is a huge international enterprise, and if they can cheat, so can many other big or small companies. By showing that companies may not always be honest with their ethical pursuits, I hope to motivate consumers to focus time and attention on the problem itself if they want to see change rather than believing or trusting a brand to make an impact for them, similar to what Zizek had to say. As consumers we believe that by buying something that is “more ethical” it can help us to feel as if we are contributing back to society, it makes us less guilty about our social standing. Volkswagen tried to appeal to customers by claiming that they could reduce their carbon footprint. This led to more cars being sold across the world and as a result created a worse effect on carbon emissions globally.

I have also attached another jam which I did prior to this one below. This one is unrelated to class but I did it prior to my assignment.