www.vw.com
I just love it when ads are odd. Not so odd that you don’t know what’s being sold, mind you. But odd enough that the first couple of half-assed times you’re watching a commercial, you have no idea what’s going on, but are intrigued enough to pay attention the next time it comes on. Then, when you finally watch the commercial in full-assed fashion, you’re amazed, fascinated, or repulsed. But by that time, you’re hooked.
That’s what happened when I saw VW’s new Routan campaign the first few times. In it, Brooke Shields talks in somber tones about how people are having babies just to “get German engineering.” The couple standing by the new VW minivan would bellow back “We wanted to have kids anyway!” or something else that completely refutes what Brooke was saying. I was wondering what the hell Brooke was getting at; is it just another quirky VW ad? Sure, but one with a theme. Video after the jump.
As you can see, this video spoofs super-serious documentaries — perhaps ones you might see on the TLC or Discovery — that examine bogus trends. The idea? That because VW has made such a good minivan, people are having kids just as an excuse to buy one “Have children for love, not for German engineering,” Brooke says more than once.
People forget how funny Shields can be given the right material, and this commercial shows she can do mock serious pretty well. Maybe as she gets older she can take the roles that are going to Leslie Nielsen now. She’d be a hell of a lot nicer to look at, wouldn’t she?
Clacked by Joel Keller
on Oct 09, 2008 @ 13:10 EST5EDT
Those ads are some of the very few on TV now that I’ll take the time to watch. Brooke is hilarious in them. Thanks for giving her and the ads some well deserved recognition.
Maybe Brooke should tell that the “German engineered” Routan’s are actually Chryslers with a new nose clip. Plus i really find the ads annoying.
Chrysler and VW always worked together on this platform. The predecessor was the Sharan, which was the same as the Chrysler Voyager and the Ford Galaxy.
Oh and the funny thing is that we have to pay a higher price in Europe for this thing in Euro than you have to pay in Dollars. The german market price is 28,000 Euro for the basic Routan, in the US the starting price is 25,000 US$ and you guys usually get the airconditioning and the sound system for free too, which we don’t.
There’s enough german engineering in this thing, trust me.
But still – when I saw this ad I thought “Was für ein Schwachsinn” :-)