Volkswagen’s Controversial 2013 Super Bowl Commercial Has a Jamaican Flavor
Volkswagen's 2013 Super Bowl Commercial takes place in a nondescript office building. Despite the location, the island nation of Jamaica manages to be the star of the spot.
In it, we see a bunch of morning-weary workers in an elevator. "I hate Mondays," one of them says, and the most of the elevator's other occupants seem to concur. But one bright-eyed and bushy-tailed salary-man disagrees. "No worries mon, every-ting will be alright," he says in a perfect Jamaican accent.
The catch being he is a white guy, who we later learn is from Minnesota.
Apparently what gave the cheerful fellow his laid-back Caribbean patois and demeanor is that he drives a VW Beetle to work. This fits in with VW's new tagline, which is "Get In. Get Happy."
As the ad closes, we see the man has taken his boss and some co-workers for a spin in his Beetle. Now they have Jamaican accents too.
Due to its "white guy appropriates Jamaican culture" jokes, the ad is courting controversy. What do you think? Is the ad controversial or j