An advert shown during Sunday’s Super Bowl game in the US has caused a storm of controversy for carmaker, Audi.
The advert for the Audi’s new A3 TDi depicts a force of ‘green police’ performing a check for fuel inefficient vehicles in a road block. With an anteater on their side to sniff out fuel-hungry vehicles, the advert attracted criticism for depicting environmentalists in a particularly unflattering light.
David Roberts, writing for the Huffington Post says that Super Bowl commercials this year like Audi’s have been ‘unusually ugly, misogynistic, and, worst of all, unfunny’ and are an example of playing to ‘Teabag America’. Its flippant attitude to environmental issues displayed a stereotype that environmentalists are ‘meddling do-gooders’ he added.
The commercial shows the A3 making it past the road block thanks to its 42 mpg highway fuel credentials and its claim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent. It reinforces the message that the A3 is green police proof because it was the winner of the Green Car Journal’s “Green Car of the Year” award.
Adam Siegel writing in his blog ‘Get Energy Smart Now’ takes its one step further. He suggests that the ‘Green Police’ commercial has Nazi undertones as German regular police were known as ‘Green Police’ during Nazi Germany thanks to their green uniforms.
The advert shows the police checking people in the street for a host of environmental crimes such as looking for incandescent bulbs and plastic shopping bags as well as checking for gas-guzzling vehicles.
Some of the most expensive advertising in the world, just 30 seconds of advertising can cost around $3 million. Whatever your opinion of the ad, which can be viewed on YouTube, it turned into a bad game for the Indianapolis Colts, who lost to the New Orleans Saints.
