VW Ads Have Occasionally Ventured Into Science Fiction

Usually when I talk about Volkswagen advertising, I tend to talk about their golden age of ads, the midcentury ones created by Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) that we all know, the ones that have become icons of advertising. The other day when I wrote about car ads that feature zero cars in them, I referenced a VW ad that only showed the Apollo lunar lander.

This ad actually led me down a small but interesting rabbit hole, one I wasn’t necessarily looking for but those determined rabbits found me: specifically, that Volkswagen has made multiple science-fiction-themed ads over the years, and I think it’s a trend worth looking at. I mean, worth a Cold Start, at least.

It started when I realized the VW print ad I mentioned earlier – the one that only showed the lunar lander – had a companion television commercial as well:

They likely made both on the same day, as it seems to feature the exact same LEM (lunar excursion module) model that the print ad used. I’ll bet the creation of this commercial and print ad cost tens of tens of dollars to produce! Even with the bleeping sound effects.

So, after I saw that there was a commercial variant of this ad, which is rooted in science fact, not fiction, I found that soon after this ad appeared, Volkswagen, still high on moondust, created this commercial:

This one, also from 1969, expands on. the lunar landing idea and features a fictional spaceship known as the V-1500, traveling to some “unknown planet,” which, the commercial claims, “is not that much of a problem anymore.”

The V-1500 spacecraft opens to reveal a VW 1500, which was more informally known as the Beetle, though the commercial just calls it a “Volkswagen Sedan.” The narrator has a sort of Texan twang to his speech, as I guess he was supposed to remind people of America’s actual astronauts.

The Beetle drives all over the strangely powdery surface of the planet, which the narrator calls “Zeno,” and I suspect there must be an atmosphere with at least some oxygen in it, because that Beetle seems to be driving just fine.

This, I think, was VW’s first foray into sci-fi-based ads. When I talk about VW’s sci-fi ads, I’m deliberately avoiding their Star Wars-themed ads, because those aren’t really the same. I mean ads where VW has their own, independently-imagined (if maybe derivative) sci-fi concepts.

Some were just basic visual, campy sci-fi references, like this New Beetle ad:

That one barely counts, but I’m including it just for completionist reasons.

I think maybe one of their best ones – and the one with the most complex ethical issues – is this one:

This ad plays with the sci-fi trope of teleportation; not a new concept, and the teleportation pods themselves look a bit like the ones from the 1986 movie where Jeff Goldblum loses his fingernails, The Fly:

I mean, not exactly, but all those ribs do suggest them. Anyway, the ethics here are pretty suspect: our Golf GTE driver destroys his Uncle’s lifetime of work, which included cracking the considerable problem of matter teleportation, all because the technology could threaten the use of cars.

I mean, I get what he’s feeling there: even if we had working teleportation, I don’t want cars to be made extinct! Never! But the implications for humanity of working teleportation really outweigh any fears of continued car ownership, don’t they? Dude really didn’t think this one through.

Here’s another sci-fi VW ad:

This one has a bit of a feel like the 2008 movie Cloverfield, I think, complete with an aggressive, terrifying-looking alien that has terrible manners. Also, can that dude not lock the car so the hatch sensor won’t be active? I guess he’d have to get rid of the key, and I can see why he’s reluctant to do that.

Also, why not hide in the back seat? It’d be more comfortable. Was this an actual VW ad, or something from an ad agency on spec? I’m not entirely sure.

Finally, there’s this one, that I don’t really know if qualifies as sci-fi. Do we count Bond movies as sci-fi, with all the Q-sourced gadgets that are generally a bit ahead of what the actual technology of the era could create? Maybe?

Are there more VW sci-fi ads? Maybe? If you think of more, throw them in the comments, why not? What could it hurt?