No-one loves their car this much

Sometimes an ad comes along which just leaves you scratching your head wondering why.

For many recently that was the Cadbury's Dairy Milk ad. With the gorilla. It was random, completely unrelated to the company or the chocolate bar and totally unexpected. But whilst quite a few hated it, I have to admit I really liked it. Not that I'm saying I think all advertising should be like this. But this time, what's made it stand out is that it's so out of the ordinary. Should every ad go in this direction we’d never actually know what was being advertised and just learn to tune out. But once in a while, this type of ad is good. It shakes up the industry a little and shows that you can venture outside the box and still have something that works.

Anyway, Cadbury's gorilla aside, I saw an American advert for Volkswagen Jetta online today. A guy, about to set off and meet his date, notices that a bird has been using his new VW Jetta as target practice. He loves the car so much that he resorts to licking the offending droppings off the bonnet, before promptly planting a smacker on the lips of his girlfriend.

First it made be baulk and then second, wonder why they would do this. It’s not that I don’t understand the premise – he loves his car THAT much that he doesn’t want it being soiled in any way and obviously he’s about to go on a date and so he can’t use his clothes to wipe off the bird faeces. But licking it? Licking it? And then giving the girl a kiss? That's just gross and not needed. Do Volkswagen want to make us buy their car or make us puke up a little in our mouths? I can see the funny side, but the disgusting factor far outweighs it.

And there’s only one more thing I have to say on the matter – Yuk!