VDub was a parody tagline, used in a short series of commercials for German car manufacturer
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
. As part of a 2006 advertising campaign for Volkswagen, advertising agency
Crispin Porter + BoguskyCrispin Porter + Bogusky, a member of publicly-traded MDC Partners , is an advertising agency that currently employs around 700 people.The agency is headquartered in Miami, Florida, with a growing "co-headquarters" in Boulder, Colorado and additional offices in Santa Monica and London...
created a series of three television commercials directed by
Jonas ÅkerlundJonas Åkerlund is a Swedish film and music video director. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock movie trailers and short films.-Biography:...
, starring Swedish actor
Peter Stormareis a Swedish film, stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.- Early life :Peter Stormare was born in Kumla, Närke, Sweden, the son of Gunhild Kristina and Karl Ingvar Storm...
as an effete German engineer named Wolfgang, and German model Zonja Wöstendiek as his assistant Miss Helga. The ads were created as a parody of MTV's
Pimp My RidePimp My Ride is a TV show produced by MTV. Each episode consists of taking one car in poor condition and restoring it, as well as customizing it. The original American version was hosted by rapper Xzibit...
.
The commercials began airing in late February 2006.
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VDub was a parody tagline, used in a short series of commercials for German car manufacturer
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
. As part of a 2006 advertising campaign for Volkswagen, advertising agency
Crispin Porter + BoguskyCrispin Porter + Bogusky, a member of publicly-traded MDC Partners , is an advertising agency that currently employs around 700 people.The agency is headquartered in Miami, Florida, with a growing "co-headquarters" in Boulder, Colorado and additional offices in Santa Monica and London...
created a series of three television commercials directed by
Jonas ÅkerlundJonas Åkerlund is a Swedish film and music video director. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock movie trailers and short films.-Biography:...
, starring Swedish actor
Peter Stormareis a Swedish film, stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.- Early life :Peter Stormare was born in Kumla, Närke, Sweden, the son of Gunhild Kristina and Karl Ingvar Storm...
as an effete German engineer named Wolfgang, and German model Zonja Wöstendiek as his assistant Miss Helga. The ads were created as a parody of MTV's
Pimp My RidePimp My Ride is a TV show produced by MTV. Each episode consists of taking one car in poor condition and restoring it, as well as customizing it. The original American version was hosted by rapper Xzibit...
.
The commercials began airing in late February 2006. Prior to the full launch of the TV campaign, the three 30-second spots became something of an internet phenomenon when popular automotive news website Leftlane News uploaded the ads to video distribution service
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
. As of early March 2006, the ads had received over two million views on YouTube. Three years later, that number was over 10 million.
Commercials
Throughout the commercials, Wolfgang appears with his blonde assistant, a guest, and the guest's pimped-out vehicle. After insulting the automobile, he then "un-pimps ze auto" by destroying it, and replacing it with a 2006
Volkswagen GTIThe fifth generation Volkswagen Golf Mk5 , built on the Volkswagen Group A5 platform was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in October 2003 and went on sale in Europe one month later. To commemorate this, Wolfsburg was renamed "Golfsburg" for a week. It reached North American markets in June...
, to the surprise of his guest. At the end of the advertisements, Wolfgang flashes a hand sign to create the letters V and W in the same orientation as found in the Volkswagen logo. The hand sign is an imitation of the gang signs popularized by hip-hop culture.
"Crate"
- A Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a compact car introduced to North America in 1999 for model year 2000, now in its second generation. The North American models were initially co-developed with the international Focus, which had already debuted at the 1998 Paris Motor Show and were eventually manufactured and sold...
ZX3 is crushed by a falling container containing the Volkswagen GTI. The Focus is referred to as a "98 Vatchamacallit" though the Focus was not available in the US (for which the commercials were produced) until 2000.
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