Sir Wanksalot wrote:
They're not suing them, thankfully.
Quote:
Spoofers to apologise for VW suicide bomber ad
Stephen Brook, advertising correspondent
Monday January 31, 2005
Volkswagen will not seek damages from the creators of a fake advert that showed a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a VW Polo, after reaching a legal settlement with the pair.
VW has achieved its goal of distancing itself from the spoof ad - which was made by London-based advertising creatives Lee Ford and Dan Brooks for their showreel but was emailed around the world - creating a public relations headache for the German car maker.
Mr Ford and Mr Brooks have agreed to formally apologise for making the commercial, which they say was never meant to be seen by the public.
"They have admitted that they created the commercial and that we had no input into it and that it was libellous and infringed our trademark," a Volkeswagen spokeswoman said.
"We are not pursuing any damages," she added.
A spokeswoman for David Price Solicitors, the law firm retained by Mr Ford and Mr Brooks, said a settlement had been agreed on Friday.
"We are not in any position to comment any further about this," said a spokewoman for David Price, which acted for footballer Stan Collymore in his dispute with the Sun.
Last week the Volkswagen, which has just unveiled a new Golf GTI ad showing Gene Kelly breakdancing to a club mix of Singin' in the Rain, launched legal action against Mr Ford and Mr Brooks, demanding that they agree to never again infringe the Volkswagen registered trademark.
It also asked the pair to hand over the original copies of the fake advert, which was directed by London film-maker Stuart Fryer.
Volkswagen UK took the legal action after gaining approval from the firm's worldwide headquarters in Germany.
How the commercial appeared on the internet is still a mystery. No one has admitted releasing it.
The advert purported to be for a Volkswagen Polo, which sells in Europe but not North America, and showed a man hopping into the left-hand drive car wearing the distinctive black and white kaffiyeh scarf made famous by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
He then drove around before blowing himself up outside a restaurant - apparently killing himself but leaving the car intact. The slogan "Polo: small but tough" then appeared.
Volkswagen's official advertising agency, DDB London, said it had seen the spoof ad after Mr Ford and Mr Brooks presented it to them in an effort to gain work.
Stories about the film appeared on countless internet websites and in many newspapers, including the Jerusalem Post, the New York Post, the Observer and the Daily Mirror.
Mr Ford put the cost of the advert at £40,000, but Mr Fryer said the cost was "more like £400".
Many in the media industry were suspicious of the provenance of the advert, remembering a viral email for Ford's Sport Ka from last year that was also sent around on the internet. One viral advert showed the Sport Ka bonnet flying up and squashing a small bird, another showed the car's sunroof decapitating a cat.
Ford distanced itself from the adverts, but they were made by its advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather.
Mr Ford has worked at the agency, but denied involvement in the Ka adverts.
The two creatives, who also have a website, LeeandDan.com, will now hope to put the saga behind them and go back to making legitimate ads.
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