VOLKSWAGEN ADVERTISEMENT AND COUNTERCULTURE
Introduction
The entry of Volkswagen (VW) as a brand on American soil was no easy feat. The boldness and enthusiasm of Heinz Nordhoff in the immediate aftermath of WWII at a time when anti-Nazism was rife, to talk German business on American soil came not short of paranoia. Even though he envisioned tapping the growing American motor vehicle industry, the “German” profile was an immediate red flag, not to mention some odd-styled vehicles that casted forth an aura of centrism and leanness; characteristics that antagonized the enlarging American appetite for size and comfort. However, America of the 1960s was in the brink of societal change manifesting the in the exploratory minds and the hearts of the younger generation, and VW’s ingenuity to package and infuse its (Van) automobile message to America, was a seed about to land on fertile ground.
Volkswagen created the most unlikely cultish theme that followed its line of automobiles right from the rather incomprehensible bug-model VW Beetle that became emboldened through authentic advertising that flared its properties. Of a greater weight was the natural coalescing of VW’s mode of advertisement and the hippie movement that appeared to be authentically and very compatible, yet was a magnificent coincidence that broke the pessimistic view America shaded on German made machinery. Volkswagen became a pioneer in redrafting the manuals of advertising from a “squared” form to a more fluid and artistic form that gave precedence to the consumer. By building capital on such an intriguing complex, this paper seeks to question how businesses endeavors have been mediated to involving in the hippie movement through advertising. In this regard, we have purposed to analyze an example of Volkswagen images of a Van that closely manifests its involvement with hippie culture.
In America, the 1960s ushered in a new era of awakening and revision to the then popular culture where the status quo of social construction, composition and conduction came under entrepreneurial refinement by the younger generation in what became renowned as the hippie movement. They vaulted from complacence and the “tag-along” role society had prescribed for them, to a more proactive role that sought to challenge authority, question governance and explore the deviant side of living that had been censored by dominant adult cultures. The popularity of the hippie movement significantly redefined consumerism and subsequently revolutionizing the societal profile of America. Right from the 1960s, unless one had a hippie element salient in their preferences, they were deviant within their domains.
With hippie culture stripped of its deviance, businesses adopted a revised methodology of communicating to customers through advertisement. They invested their advertisement on the notions of autonomy and coolness that saliently stemmed the culture in response to revised consumerism. In addition to raw valuation of the product do the consumer, advertising agencies such as Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) assumed an artistic tone that stretched the boundaries of formal advertising5. Volkswagen cars injected the spirit of autonomy in enticing users to acquire their trendy vehicles that were built for the task by careful and smart mechanics and technology. They simply preferred and guaranteed durability deviant to the affluent theme American car manufactures gendered in the consumer base. This type of advertising challenged the norms of advertising and hippie language and themes such as “thinking outside the box” overtook adverts.
Our chosen artifact
Our artifact of choice pays tribute to Volkswagen’s co-revolution with the hippie movement in the 60s and the unprecedented yet deviant (hippie) theme that championed individuality. The artifact is a red and white Volkswagen van with a Volkswagen hatchback that appears to have been visually superimposed into the Van’s volume. The superimposition has been achieved through painting of a blue VW Beetle on the side of the van where the Beetle seems to share the same chassis length, bumpers and wheels with the van. This image has been bolstered by a marveling description that emphasizes on the van having about the same size as the Beetle, yet is more spacious, can carry heavy loads and a greater number of adults and kids, and while travelling at 24 miles per gallon, the rubber tires are able to sustain 30,000 miles of usage. To crown the Van’s appeal, the textual description boasts of a price of $2,655 ranking it among the cheapest in the market, yet one of the most durable.
In a 1960 socioeconomic and cultural perspective, this image raises a number of questions. Why the hatchback? Why the bold and unflattering description of its properties in an American market that is tending to appreciate size, comfort and high aesthetics? And why the low price for such a durable vehicle? The image of Volkswagen as a company that strayed from the American definition of vehicles and successfully “flawed” the mode of advertising had been achieved by the unprecedented image of the Beetle1. Volkswagen vehicles were thus viewed as the “lean gods that conquered the road.” They derided the mass-conformity theme that Detroit had championed and therefore considered anti-conformance as the gateway to autonomy and individualism; seeds from which the hippie movement sprouted.
This image is a direct defiance of motor vehicle advertisement norms yet a blatant blend and promotion of hippie culture. According to Robert’s view3 of the hippie culture, the movement expressed a religious appreciation of difference where standing unique and exploring the undefined extremes is considered living in full. This artifact exemplifies this philosophy in a more vivid manner that had been considered to be the guiding principles of the company in breaking through the American market. The Beetle had been uniquely designed and so does this Van stand unique and opposed to mainstream aesthetic beauty. This artifact emphasizes the company’s Beetle flagship at the time and the need to pass on such a success into other models as a baseline philosophy that would identify with the consumers.
The standard of advertising had assumed an assemblage of clichés from other success stories and therefore they appeared “busy” and full of everything else. However, DDB was on a mission to give the VW a different dimension by revamping its representation to “to out-Detroit Detroit” which was no easy fit, but achievable altogether. With no need to superficially coat this bare machinery, DDB's adverts motive was to stick to the often mocked form and communicate the magic in the product without sounding too unattractive and questionable yet letting America know of this bizarrely looking piece of machinery that gave Chevrolet a run for its “pretty girls” and Ford, a run for its higher mountains. And indeed the Beetle and VW curved a space in spontaneous word-of-mouth advertisement that cocktail parties could not help but provide an audience.
It is no surprise that the hippie movement was primarily a call of the vagabond and the free-spirited, youthful American lot that despite the fact that they were eccentric, they embraced communal living. These youthful Americans, therefore, would prefer a spacious vehicle, they loved the movement in numbers which fitted well with the van and since they were not economically empowered, durability and economy was a priority which the van offered to the fullest2, 4. The van impressed upon functionality as opposed to affluence and advertised its durability rather than the biannually planned obsolesce that American manufactures sought as a business underhand.1
Conclusion
Through ingenious advertisement, Volkswagen was reinventing the role of the van and vehicles in general, in American society and widely swayed advertisements to fervently consider the changing landscape of consumerism if they were to remain effective. As the American automobile market expanded in the aftermath of the WWII, Volkswagen occulted the market with a Buggy car that it not only named the Beetle but also resembled the beetle in form and hardiness. With the American hippie culture within the horizon, Volkswagen championed the themes of difference, autonomy and individual coolness in its advertisement that rendered its products an instant hit. Its prior pessimistic profile as a craft of the Nazis, had gained reputation for god of the roads. The company took a hold and remolded hippie cultural theme to revolutionize advertisement. Whether Volkswagen helped widen the scope of the hippie movement, or rather the hippie movement provided an opportunistic window for the company to capture and redefine the American vehicle market is a question worth noting.
Bibliography
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