VW blames cultural insensitivity for ad criticised as racist

FRANKFURT, REUTERS: Volkswagen has apologised for posting on its Instagram page last month an advert widely criticised as racist, and said it was published because of a lack of cultural sensitivity.

In the clip of a few seconds, a black man is depicted next to a new VW Golf, being pushed around by an oversized white hand, meant to be that of his girlfriend, which then flicks him into a building bearing the sign ‘Petit Colon’.

Petit Colon is a real cafe in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located near the Teatro Colon. In French the term translates into ‘small settler’, which has colonial undertones.

Volkswagen withdrew the advert on 20 May and announced last week the findings of a review into how it came to be published.

“We can state that racist intentions did not play any role whatsoever. We found a lack of sensitivity and procedural errors,” Volkswagen’s management board member for integrity and legal affairs Hiltrud Werner said in a statement.

“On behalf of the Board of Management, I would like to formally apologise for hurting people as a result of a lack of intercultural sensitivity,” he added.

Volkswagen’s management board said it condemned racism and the company explained that the ad was part of a series of clips from the Golf 8 ad campaign depicting a couple who play tricks on each other.

Without watching the entire campaign however, it is unclear that the white hand is the man’s girlfriend.

Volkswagen pledged to boost diversity training and improve controls.

“This advert is tasteless. It is deeply racist. So deeply, that one has no idea where to start,” said a commentary piece in ROSAMAG, an online magazine for AfroGerman women and friends.

No member of staff at Volkswagen has been dismissed as a result of the campaign, which was produced by Voltage, an ad agency belonging to New York-based DDB Worldwide.

Germany’s Advertising Standards Council Head Katja Heintschel von Heinegg said: “The company has withdrawn the advert, and clearly distanced itself from the content.” 

“Doubtless the company advertising as well as the agency are now sufficiently sensitive to the issue that something like this will not happen again,” she added.