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VW Eco-Friendly

May 5, 2009
Submitted by su1010

2.1 AVERAGE RATING

VW Eco-Friendly

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su1010’s of Austin gave this ad a 1

I think this ad does a great job of NOT demonstrating “green-washing.” In this ad, Volkswagen makes it clear that that they are attempting to make cars that are better for the environment, but claiming that there is always room for improvements. I don’t know that I would make any changes to this ad if I had to. It does a great job of poking fun of ridiculous “environment friendly” cars, gives credit to Volkswagen by stating what they are doing for the environment and makes it clear that they can always do better.

Other Ratings:

cfeong of San Francisco CA USA gave this ad a 1
August 3, 2009
Comments:
My friend has been driving a VW Jetta from the 80's that gets 48 mpg. I can't speak to the current group of vehicles but I think VW has developed enough green cred over the years to be believable.
lunchbreath of chicago, il gave this ad a 1.6
June 22, 2009
Comments:
whoa there. the bluemotion is a production car, at least in europe, and this ad (i'm looking at the very small print url at the bottom which has a .co.uk suffix) is intended for that audience. so i think it's sincere, has a sense of humor, and implies that there's a long way to go. chasbear are you suggesting that this ad "misleads with graphics" by implying that VW is selling wind-powered sailcars? most viewers will understand the visual style is cartoonish and takes a fun angle on the issue. the statistic about chevy trucks vs. VW trucks in the US is probably accurate but misses the point: VW as a brand both sells a lot of and celebrates small cars, even if the Touareg is a beast.
chasbear of Massholechusetts gave this ad a 4.8
June 1, 2009
Comments:
This ad is really greenwash and I can't believe anyone would give it a '1' unless they wrote it. You can't buy this product. It is a concept car. Should you feel good about green credentials of the maker of the 15MPG Toureg 2 V8 FSI? They'll sell a lot more of those than the BlueMotion Polo, because there are 30 of these on dealer lots in my area, but the Polo is "expected to come to the US market in the next couple of years". If it crash tests. People on this web site love to beat up GM because they only seem to make a profit on large, inefficient vehicles, but up until now people were quite happy to buy them. Well, as of 2007 federal data: GM fleet mileage for light trucks: 22.6MPG VW fleet mileage for light trucks: 19.5MPG Misleads with words: Tax exempt implies you can buy one. Misleads with graphics: Associates many "green" technologies with the company. Claim that it is the lowest CO2 in its class is bogus because it is not a production vehicle. The concept Chevy Volt may be in its class, for all we know. The company is not green relative to its competitors. The key piece of information left out is that this is a concept car and not a single one will be sold for years, having zero impact on the environment. If it was crash tested, priced for sale, and the emissions results were born out by 3rd party testing then maybe we'd have something here.