No more suicide jokes in ads -- Volkswagen Withdraws Commercial That Involved Suicide.
February 16, 2007
Volkswagen Withdraws Commercial That Involved Suicide
By STUART ELLIOTT
For the second time in a week, an automaker has agreed to stop running a television commercial that several mental health organizations criticized as making light of suicide.
Volkswagen of America said yesterday that it would withdraw a commercial that four organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, had labeled as irresponsible.
The spot, by Crispin, Porter & Bogusky in Miami, part of MDC Partners, was titled “Jumper” and showed a man contemplating suicide until he learned about new lower prices on Volkswagens.
Last week, General Motors agreed to stop running a commercial, first shown during Super Bowl XLI, that presented a factory robot driven to suicide after losing its job for making a mistake. G.M. said it would edit the spot to remove the suicide scene. The robot commercial was created by the Marina del Rey, Calif., office of Deutsch, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
The other organizations that complained about the Volkswagen spot were the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which had also complained about the G.M. commercial; Mental Health America; and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company. |
