Week 1 EOC: VW Lemon Ad

"The VW Beetle is an honest car. Everything about it had to be honest, transparent and straightforward – the product, the pricing, the dealers and even the advertising. The body copy had to be like a tip from one friend to another. The rest is glorious ad history." http://www.brandstories.net/2012/11/03/vw-beetle-story-lesson-in-brand-persona-development/ The Lemon ad for VW was the first ad to talk about being negative. It was the first honest ad, and it had everyone talking for a long time. It has become one of the most important advertisements in history. This was a German car being sold in the U.S. by Jews right after the Holocaust. "Believe it or not, Adolf Hitler actually conceptualized the idea of the Beetle in 1924 while trying to solve Germany’s unemployment issue. He wanted to mass-produce a car that the average person would be able to afford on a modest income. The final first draft of the Beetle was finalized in 1938, and after a brief production period, World War II ended, and this production was brought to an end. In April 1934, Hitler contacted Ferdinand Porsche to create a new model of the Beetle in 10 months." http://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2013/07/03/how-adolf-hitlers-ideal-car-became-an-american-favorite-a-visual-analysis-of-the-volkswagon-beetle/ They found a way to sell Hitler's favorite car to the American people and people all over the world, and VW even nearly became the most profitable car manufacturer in the year 2016. "It was shocking, to say the least, for an auto brand to call their car a lemon. What made the ad even more appealing than the shock value, was that the Bug was in fact (and still is) shaped like a lemon." https://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/all-the-great-1960s-volkswagen-ads?utm_term=.ttXZzbe0g#.exnx9OJ7w A lemon was slang for a bad thing, and the fact that the VW bug called themselves that was really bold. The fact that they were putting themselves down kept people talking, and the fact that they were honest kept peoples' interest.