Cars and terrorism
There is a new video clip, probably for advertisement, which spawned a bit of discussion in some places, and even made it to the news, when VW (German car company) sued the makers of the video.Short story: Terrorist enters a VW Polo, drives to a cafe, and sets off a bomb... with a surprising twist.
What's interesting is the reason for suing. You can read details and further links at a topic on www.orf.at (in German, sorry). The gist is that the clip is, according to VW, "inhuman and criminal" - and probably slander against VW.
Of course, IMO, the suing itself is not the problem; the problem is that other people could sue VW if VW didn't sue first. So a company practically has to sue to avoid being sued themselves (by "human rights" activists or other people who don't think the spot is very funny).
Now... is making fun of terrorism "inhuman"? Are some kinds of black humour too black? Should ads which contain ill people, old people, unlucky people also be removed, because real ill, old, unlucky people would think they are being made fun of? Would everything be OK if the terrorist would wear a mask, so you wouldn't think he came from a certain place?
I guess everyone has to find his own opinion there, but I prefer to laugh at terrorists instead of fearing them. And, besides, I'd rather have ads like this which are a bit on the far side, instead of the usual kind of ad which are totally boring and braindead.
[Edit 03/2005]Here's another clip with a car and something else...
[Edit 03/2005]Fun, the movie has disappeared from the last link I knew of... but this site seems to be looking for new sources for the movie, and it can be downloaded from there.
