Week One EOC -- Volkswagon Lemon

The Volkswagon ‘Lemon’ ads changed the face of advertising in the 60s.  Originally advertising was introduced in order to only inform a customer, come shop here this is what we have this is how much it costs.  Volkswagon was able to lead the way into a new area of advertising, the idea that an ad could be catchy, fun, and even poke fun at the company, making the consumers enjoy them and remember them more easily.  When the Beetle was first introduced in America many consumers were calling it a ‘lemon,’ a term which in the 60s meant that an item was of lesser quality than its counterparts.  Volkswagon ingenious idea was to take a picture of an actual ‘lemon’ from their production facility (an automobile that did not pass inspection) and tell why it would never be sold because of its blemished chrome on the glove compartment.  The best part of the ad is the actual copy which is frequently lost but reads:

             

The Volkswagen missed the boat. The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished and must be replaced. Chances are you wouldn't have noticed it; Inspector Kurt Kroner did. There are 3,389 men of our Wolfsburg factory with only one job; to inspect Volkswagens at each stage of production. (3,00 Volkswagens are produced daily; there are more inspectors than cars.) Every shock absorber is tested (spot checking won't do), every windshield is scanned. VWs have been rejected for surface scratches barely visible to the eye. Final inspection is really something! VW inspectors run each car off the line onto the Funktionsprüfstand (car test stand), tote up 189 check points, gun ahead to the automatic brake stand and say "no" to one VW out of fifty. This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars. (It also means a used VW depreciates less than any other car.) We pluck the lemons; you get the plums. (PowerWriting)

It is in this copy that the true meaning of the ad is shown.  Just looking at the ad one would first assume that in fact all Beetles are lemons because this particular Beetle looks to be in fine condition and the same as all the models being drove around by those ‘hippies.’  However upon reading the ad copy the consumer is shown in an actually very amusing tone that in fact not all Beetles are allowed to be sold and that if there is some defect in the car making it an actual ‘lemon’ then one of the 3,389 inspectors in Volkswagon’s plant probably saw the imperfection and threw that lemon to the damaged pile.  It was an ad that rather than just informing the public of what was being sold, it persuaded the audience that they should and perhaps needs to buy this ‘lemon.’