Week 1 EOC: VW Lemon Ad

What is the meaning and importance of the 1961 "Lemon" Volkswagen Beetle ad? "Give the World a "Lemon"...showing a car on a plain background was unheard of. But to refer to your new car as a "lemon" was an in-your-face act of daring on the part of the agency, and an act of courage on the part of the client. As closer inspection of the ad's copy revealed, a scratched chrome plate on the glove compartment made an entire car unfit for shipping. The stunning visual and self-deprecating copy had an appeal absent from other ads. They were disarmingly simple. And effective."  http://www.ddb.com/BillBernbachSaid/why_bernbach_matters/revolutionary-work/ Depicting the German car as a "lemon" challenged those who viewed the ad to believe in perfection. To claim that just because the glove compartment was tarnished, the car had to be sent back into production convinced many people that such scrutiny was the absolute standard. People love consistency. "VW inspectors run each car off the line onto the Funktionsprüfstand (car test stand), tote up 189 check points, gun ahead to the automatic brake stand and say "no" to one VW out of fifty. This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars. (It also means a used VW depreciates less than any other car.) We pluck the lemons; you get the plums."http://www.powerwriting.com/vw-lemon-ad.html By setting the bar so high, VW believed they were supplying the world with a top of the line, high quality product that even time couldn’t affect the value. "In 1960, giving a German car a lovable personality meant breaking all the rules—not just for car advertising, but for advertising in general. That task fell to the art director, Helmut Krone, and to Julian Koenig, his copywriter partner. Playing to the simplicity of the product was a practice unfamiliar to DDB’s contemporaries. But DDB’s VW ads introduced us to a car that would come to symbolize anti-establishment and common sense." http://www.printmag.com/featured/legends-in-advertising-bill-bernbach/ Even today, seeing a modern beetle, my initial reaction is "Awe." Volkswagen used Pathos as a persuasive tool to tug at the heart strings of their audience and make it a relatable brand and convince the general public that they could trust their judgement.