VW apologises for racist ad

VOLKSWAGEN pulled and apologised yesterday for a racist advert posted on its Instagram page that a company official called “an insult to every decent person”.

The 10-second clip depicted a pair of oversize white hands dragging a black man away from a new VW Golf 8 sedan, and flicking him violently into a restaurant called Petit Colon, a name with overtones of colonisation.

As a spokesperson reads the phrase “Der Neue Golf”, or “the new Golf”, as it appears on the screen, the letters materialise in an order that briefly spells the German N-word.

The company, which also produces the brands Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche, removed the video, but it was reposted by critics on social media.

Volkswagen board member Juergen Stackmann and VW’s head of diversity management Elke Heitmueller said they were “horrified” by the ad, and that the company was “aware” of its “historical origins”. Volkswagen was founded by the Nazi government in the 1930s to build “the people’s car”, and used labour from concentration camps in the manufacturing process.

“That is precisely why we resolutely oppose all forms of hatred, slander/ propaganda and discrimination,” the statement said. “I sincerely apologise as an individual in my capacity as a board member at Volkswagen Sales & Marketing,” Stackmann added in a tweet. “Hatred, racism and discrimination have no place at Volkswagen! In this case, I will personally ensure full transparency and consequences!”