Settlement reached - Lee and Dan have to say that they're sorry

dabitch's picture
Posted by dabitch on 31. January 2005 - 14:27

Volkswagen have decided to not seek damages from creatives Lee Ford and Dan Brooks who made the Volkswagen Polo Suicide advert which went viral all over the web in a matter of hours. Instead VW want Lee and Dan to say that they're sorry reports the Guardian today.
Volkswagen asked for 'original copies' of the spec ad, which was directed by Stuart Fryer, to be turned over to them and demanded that Mr Ford and Mr Brooks would never again infringe on the Volkswagen registered trademark.

How the commercial appeared on the internet is still a mystery. No one has admitted releasing it.

Well, Google's own cache reveals that the clip did indeed appear on Lee and Dans website, but the clip was later removed due to high traffic.
Last week RTL in Germany hosted a show debating viral advertising, featuring this particular ad and had invited representatives of VW to chat about it. We'll have more to share on that show later.

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Submitted by LeslieBAP on 1. February 2005 - 3:36.
LeslieBAP's picture

They got their apology:
CNN: Creators of VW spoof ad apologize

and VW dropped all legal actions. How convenient.

I still think it's all a big plot, but that's just me.

Submitted by dabitch on 1. February 2005 - 12:30.
dabitch's picture

Not just you, a lot of people think that.
The only thing that makes me think it isn't is that VW would not have wanted to steal the thunder from their fab (and expensive) Gene Kelly Golf GTI advert... Timing of that suggests that the VW suicide bomber is indeed a spec ad that leaked onto the web.

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