Volkswagen Commercial: Naked Honesty and Resolute Repentance Make a Comeback

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We’ve seen a slew of major corporate scandals in recent years. There’s Wells Fargo, Enron, Lehman Brothers, Uber, CBS, Facebook, and Equifx. Even Apple had its “batterygate.”

These companies have responded in various ways, such as declaring bankruptcy, replacing its leadership, and changing policies and paractices. But recently I was pleasantly surprised by the way one corporation is handling it’s scandalous past.

I’m talking about Volkswagen, “the world’s largest auto manufacturer”, and its “dieselgate” scandal. From 2009 to 2015, Volkswagen rigged millions of diesel vehicles to give a better emissions result when they were tested than they did in real-world driving. When the EPA eventually discovered the ruse in 2015, Volkswagen’s stock dropped by a third, its CEO resigned and others were suspended.

Fast forward to June, 2019. Volkswagen has already announced that it was changing to an all-electric line of automobiles. But how do you market an entire new line of vehicles to a public that knows you have lied to them for years?

Answer: you tell them the painful truth and persuade them that you have changed for the better. And that is exactly what VW has done with its new “Hello Light” commercial.

In Hello Light, Volkswagen uses Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence” to showcase the themes of darkness emerging into light, despair producing self examination and hope, and truth forcing change and beauty. The message: “We did wrong by you. But we went through a period of despair that forced us to reexamine ourselves. Now we’ve changed for the better and we have something very special to offer you.”

Here’s the commercial:

Mind you, unvarnished honesty is not recommended in PR circles. Writes one commentator:

“Hello Light” breaks the rule that you never bring up unpleasantness in advertising because of a belief, based on ages-old research, that no matter what positive message comes afterward, the human response is to remember the negative. Oh, yeah. Those are the guys that did that really bad thing.¹

But in an age as cynical as ours, I believe most people will find actually telling the truth no matter what the consequences electrifying.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

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1. George Levy,”Volkswagen Commercial Breaks Advertising Rules“