VW Australia plays down impact of Greenpeace ‘Dark side’ campaign
Volkswagen has said that the global ‘VW dark side’ attack campaign waged by Greenpeace over the company’s stance on emissions standards would have no impact on its brand image or influence its marketing plans in Australia.
VW Australia’s general manager of press and PR Karl Gehling said the campaign, a Star Wars-themed pastiche of VW’s Cannes Lion-winning TV spot earlier this month, would have “no impact on our local marketing activities.”
“I do not think the Greenpeace campaign will have an effect on our brand image in Australia. We have been proactive in downsizing our engines and improving fuel efficiency to reduce emissions. There is nothing we can do beyond we’re doing already,” he said.
Gehling added that he “couldn’t understand the criticism” levelled at the German carmaker, claiming that VW’s emissions levels are well within industry standards.
VW has been trumpeting its green credentials in Australia with the launch of the Golf BlueMotion last month.
http://youtu.be/uiDiMAH8DwI
Greenpeace Australia\Pacific’s media and communications manager James Lorenz told Mumbrella: “Climate change doesn’t respect borders, so while our campaign is focused on Europe rather than down under, plenty of Australians will also want to do their bit to push VW in the right direction.
Australian supporters of the anti-VW campaign have been driven to the global campaign website, VWDarkside.com.
“The focus of Greenpeace’s VW campaign is to encourage them to play a postive role in pushing for emissions standards in Europe. But instead of living up to its green rhetoric, VW is dragging its feet and in fact, lobbying against strong standards,” he said.
Lorenz added that the campaign was already having an impact, with the video having been viewed 2m times before it was taken down by YouTube on July 1 due to copyright infringement.
If I was VW, I wouldn’t worry either.
It’s a(nother) vapour campaign from Greenpeace.
User ID not verified.