New Delhi: A 32-second advertisement, featuring suicide bombing, has been doing the rounds on social media with the claim that it is a commercial by German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen.
In the video, a man can be seen driving to a busy street in a Volkswagen Polo. After parking his car in the street, he pushes a button to detonate a bomb strapped onto him but the blast is confined to the car. The video ends with the tagline “Polo, Small but Tough”.
Several people on social media shared the video and aimed potshots at the Muslim community.
BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Singh Bagga shared the video with the caption “Terrorist Commercial Ad by Volkswagen. Interesting ?”. It has been seen by over 28,000 people and has been liked by 4,000 people on Twitter. He also shared the same post on Facebook.
"Terrorist Commercial Ad by Volkswagen" Interesting ? pic.twitter.com/AYs98BmMYE
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) November 24, 2020
Another Twitter user named Harshal Purohit shared the video and said that this is why one should buy German cars now. The tweet was liked 1,200 times.
This is why one should by German Cars now.. pic.twitter.com/Dukniv3lBB
— Harshal Purohit (@iPurohitHarshal) November 23, 2020
Several other users also shared the video on Twitter.
इसलिए मैं volkswagen की कार ही चलाती हूँ, ??
चाहे फोड़ो कितने भी बम☄️ बोल के अकबर-अल्लाह,
फिर भी मजबूत गाड़ी को बम से उड़ा ना पाए कोई मुल्ला,
#हिंदुस्तान_जिंदाबाद #radical_islamic_terror pic.twitter.com/ITpGbfAPAw
— Kajal Hindustani (@kajal_jaihind) November 23, 2020
Fact check
The viral video is not an ad made by Volkswagen but is, in fact, a spoof created 15 years ago.
The spoof was created by London-based advertising creatives Lee Ford and Dan Brooks in 2005 for their showreel but the video went viral instead.
At the time, Volkswagen had expressed disgust at the ad and had also considered legal action against the creators. But no action was eventually taken after Ford and Brooks apologised to the company.
(In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer)
Also read: Video of protest rally by Muslims is not from Kolkata, is a 3-year-old clip from Bangladesh