Greenpeace’s spoof Volkswagen ad has been returned to YouTube after the environmental charity filed a counter notification to the video service, following the ad’s removal from the website.
It was believed that the ad was removed from the internet video service following a copyright breach complaint from Lucasfilms. Greenpeace countered that the ad, which criticises Volkswagen over its environmental performance, is just one of many parodies of the car maker’s original ad, known as the ‘most successful viral internet ad in history’. Other parodies of the Volkswagen advert, which features a small boy dressed as Darth Vader, remain untouched, including one from the BBC. Meanwhile Greenpeace’s parody was removed from the website just three days after the charity launched its campaign against the car maker.
Greenpeace wrote to YouTube to explain that any ‘references and clips from Star Wars were transformed for the purposes of commentary and criticism’ rather than a direct infringement on the Star Wars copyright.
Greenpeace’s ‘Volkswagen: The Dark Side’ campaign, including the video parody attacks Europe’s biggest car maker, accusing the firm of undermining its carefully crafted a family-friendly image by failing to live up to its claim to be ‘the most eco-friendly car maker in the world’- a claim it made as part of a sustainability report in 2009.
A new report from Greenpeace reveals that the car maker has been lobbying against key environmental laws in Europe and has failed to reduce the petrol consumption of its cars as quickly as other volume car makers.
The charity says it has ‘scored a small victory for internet freedom’ in the reinstatement of its advert. The ad and full details of the campaign can be seen on the charity’s www.VWdarkside.com website.
