Semiotics

I having been looking into Volkswagen's past ads as research towards a contextual practice brief and in order to get a deeper understanding of, their tone of voice as a brand, and how they choose to communicate with their audience.

In this set of ads they have used a posterised style that gives the images of the cars a little extra personality. This has achieved an emphasis of the fun, good natured feel of the brand.

The "stunts" that the cars are performing, especially in the one featuring the VW Camper, depict an energetic letting loose, the cars are 'care free' with a childlike freedom.

The other point to note is that from a mechanical point of view, attempting the stunts they have depicted would certainly damage the vehicle, the way the copy is written suggests that customers do attempt this stunts, which again gives good insight into VW's use of humour to make a point in an obscure way.

So the signs in this ad all point towards describing not only the fun you can have in a Volkswagen (a brand principle) but the care free fun that a warrantied VW service allows you to have in your Volkswagen.