'Paging Dr. Mengele. Paging Dr. Mengele...'

When 'German Engineering' Yields the Wrong Associations

Posted by Bob Garfield on 10.22.08 @ 10:56 AM

Here's a letter from a reader:

Does the VW Routan TV campaign with Brooke Shields bother you at all? The line about "having babies for German engineering" creeps me out. Are the folks at Crispin Porter & Bogusky TRYING to remind us of the Nazis' human engineering evils?

Obviously, the answer is no. Crispin Porter & Bogusky is not trying to elicit the most grotesque echoes of the Holocaust.

But, either due to an institutional tin ear or vast histroical ignorance, they've somehow managed to do it anyway. The question is: How could the client not notice? Presented these boards, the Germans should have said "Nein, nein, nein. Bitte, nein."

3 Comments

By jkantor1 | St. Petersburg, FL October 22, 2008 03:32:36 pm:

Luckily the market they are targetting has almost zero understanding of history.

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By StephanieInCA | Los Angeles, CA November 7, 2008 06:33:44 pm:

I didn't have the same take on the ads, although I certainly don't like them. I'm pretty much squarely in the middle of VW's target market for the Routan and they managed to offend me, confuse me, AND give me the willies. Well done, guys. More: http://urbzen.com/2008/11/06/routan-bust/

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By MARCELO | CORAL GABLES, FL November 22, 2008 09:17:35 am:

Didn't think of Mengele, no, but they are really really stupid. Hard to see how these ads would make me consider the VW in my shopping list.

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