Watch: Audi’s Super Creepy Super Bowl Ad
February 8th, 2010I am all for preserving and protecting the environment, but for carmaker Audi to imply in their Super Bowl ad that we need a Stasi-like “Green Police” force searching through our trash, setting up eco-checkpoints which violate the 4th Amendment, and illegally arresting people because of a purchase is beyond a misplaced message, it’s stupid and dangerous.
Seemingly Audi’s message is simple, a fascist state based on fear and big brother surveillance is the next step in addressing our environmental woes and only by complying with the “Green Police” (ie buying the correct Audi) will you avoid arrest and earn societal perks like easing through eco-checkpoints. Beyond arrest Audi never reveals exactly what punishment is in store for the offenders, but we’re led to believe by a television news reporter that whatever the outcome, like in the case of the yellow-clad yuppie with the incandescent light bulbs, it will be a “tragedy.” What exactly is so tragic about this man’s punishment is anybody’s guess but you would have to assume it’s something far worse then replacing a few light bulbs.
Now I realize commercials are inherently simple-minded attempts to persuade people into buy products they don’t need, often pandering to the lowest common denominator through juvenile humor, but with the continued application of the Patriot Act and the warrant-less wire tapping, illegal search and seizure, and unlawful detainment of foreign prisoners that come with it, does a joke about America employing fascist tactics seem all that funny or appropriate?
On its website, Audi states the Green Police are “caricatures of today’s ‘green movement.’” But Audi also seems to endorse the faux-force, writing they are “a humorous group of individuals that have joined forces in an effort to collectively help guide consumers to make the right decision when it comes to the environment.”
Other forms of government throughout the world and even within the United States have already established their versions of “Green Police.” In the UK for example, the Green Police have the power to serve warrants, take property, and view business records based solely on the authority of a pollution inspecting network. New York City’s Department of Environmental Conservation has a team of twenty officers called the “Green Police” with the jurisdiction to enforce environmental regulations and issue citations to environmental violators. For instance, the Green Police currently have the authority to pull over vehicles thought not to be complying with emission standards.
Concerning a multidimensional issue such as this, the last thing we need is a car ad using fear or humor to marginalize an otherwise serious debate about the tug of war between our civil rights and the right of the government to legislate every aspect of our lives.
But hey, on the plus side I have another reason to dislike the music of Cheap Trick.
by: Harold Johns III
