VW Kicks Off Ad Campaign For ID Buzz, Says Its Time To Forget Dieselgate

Volkswagen’s image was severely tarnished by the dieselgate scandal and the company has been keeping a relatively low profile as they’ve been “working to atone for the damage.”

Volkswagen now feels the time is right to address the issue with the general public as they’ve unveiled a limited-run commercial which will air tonight during Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Dubbed “Hello Light,” the ad begins with a Volkswagen designer walking into a dark room while newscasters read reports about the scandal. Depressed by the news, the designer starts sketching while Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence plays in the background.

He eventually pulls up a slide of the Type 2 and begins working on the ID.Buzz concept. The ad ends by showing the finished concept and says “In the darkness, we found light. Introducing a new era of electric driving.”

The ad is pretty good and Volkswagen said the message is simple, “What matters most is how you respond.” That sounds pretty noble, especially from a company whose CEO was informed they were cheating emission standards in 2014, held a PowerPoint presentation detailing the cheating in July 2015 and then finally admitted to the cheating in September of 2015 after an employee went rogue and revealed the existence of defeat devices in “direct contravention of the instructions from his superiors.”

Putting all that aside, “Hello Light” is part of a bigger campaign that will kick off on June 11th. Called “Drive Bigger,” the advertising campaign will mark the “return to the thoughtful, fun and unassuming Volkswagen ads of the 1950s and ’60s.”

Also Read: VW Confirms I.D. Buzz For Production In 2022

According to Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh, “This campaign is for all of those we disappointed, all of those who stayed with us, those who worked like crazy to keep us moving forward and for all of those who stopped caring.” He went on to say, “We have a responsibility to do better, to be greater and we intend to shoulder that responsibility.”