“The ad featured a black and white photo of the Volkswagen Beetle with the word “Lemon” in bold san serif font… that proclaims that this particular car was rejected by Inspector Kurt Kroner because of a blemish on the chrome piece of the glove. The ad goes on to describe the rigorous inspection process…” (http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=1731)
But what makes this particular advertisement so significant? The design and delivery was vastly different from ads that came before it. “Ads before it were either information-based and lacking in persuasion, more fantasy than reality, or reliant on the medium's ability to deliver repeated exposure.” (http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1999/11/22/smallb7.html)
However, this ad was not only famous for its print value. Through television, Volkswagen “made the emotional connection between the car and consumers…” In a commercial set at a funeral, “the voice of the deceased bequeaths his fortune…To my nephew (who was mourning in a Volkswagen Beetle), who often said ‘A penny saved is a penny earned’ and ‘it surely pays to own a Volkswagen,’ I leave my entire fortune.”Because of this connection between merchandise and customer, Volkswagen was giving its audience a compelling reason to purchase their vehicles. (http://www.syl.com/bc/advertisingcampaignforvolkswagenbeetletheno1advertisingcampaignofthecentury.html)
Though there is truly a multitude of reasons why the VW Lemon advertisement was so influential, one of those chief among the others is this: it taught the population how to shop. When opening their wallets, customers wanted to know for a fact that the product they were buying was that of quality manufacturing. The Lemon ad helped shape that mindset. “The point is that to analyze the question of which benefits to communicate, we really need to know which attributes are considered in making the brand-choice decision and which of them are most important in the targeted product-market situation.” (http://books.google.com/books?id=trqPlpLpjyAC&pg=PA264&lpg=PA264&dq=volkswagen+lemon+ad+influence&source=bl&ots=9Jck-WHiYx&sig=tfJwoPXzluyfYusViYwpSfcuw6Y&hl=en&ei=VH4_TLAZwYHyBqLg6a4K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q&f=false)
The Volkswagen Lemon Ad is iconic and historic, changing the way people live, shop, and connect to products.
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