The inevitable sell out post

[Good Old Neon]

Nope. And to suggest otherwise is really reaching. The name has persisted, but nothing else.

What do other ads, or the programs during which they're shown, have to do with anything?

 

Oh good, the victims and their families will be so relieved

[caliber66]

So history, and a companies place within it is of no consequence as well?

 

The company exists today because of that slave labor and its association with the Nazi party - doesn't that matter even just a little bit?

 

Who gives a fuck right - I mean, Wilco's on TV - what better way to enjoy them than during a Wheel of Fortune commerical break - right? Or right after that Paris Hilton McDonald's or whatever ad - it's no big deal.

 

BMW motorcycles, specifically the BMW R12 and the BMW R75 combination were used extensively by the Aufkl

[Atticus]

Oh good, the victims and their families will be so relieved

[cryptique]

Really? VW's current budget/profits/business dealings have absolutely no ties with their past? Did they do some sort of clean cut off? (It's hard not to sound like you're screaming at someone when you're asking questions in a debate thread so I'll have to say here that I'm only asking these questions because I'm actually wondering - I mean, I know a company like John Hancock still lives (to some extent) off the money it made in the African slave trade, so it would seem remarkable that VW could make a complete break from its past).

You'd have a hard time convincing me that VW today has much of anything to do with what VW was over sixty years ago, or that it should be treated any differently from any other company because of stuff that happened that far back. If the company still employed people from that era -- people who had any kind of decision-making power then, and still do today -- that might be different.

[billydee]

I saw Rocco DeLuca and the Burden a couple nights ago and he (Rocco) sorta looks like a young Jeff Tweedy.

It smells like someones selling out to me.....b

[Good Old Neon]

Pretty much any large company that was around in the 1930s and is still in business today in Germany had dealings with the Nazis. The Volkswagen that exists today bears little resemblance to the company founded by Ferdinand Porsche, and had indeed nearly ceased operation following the war - and was revived by the British occupying forces. So the company owes far more to the British military than to slave labor, as far as it "existing today."

 

I don't even care that much about VW. I drove a 78 Super Beetle in high school, and my brother has a Passat. They make, and have made, good cars, and seem to be a very socially responsible company, the ghosts of its past notwithstanding.

 

That social responsibility you mentioned

[entropy]

with your gentle and inoffensive nature, I think maybe you should handle it

 

That was hilarious. Seriously. Coffee, on the wall.

[cryptique]

Oh good, the victims and their families will be so relieved

[Sir Stewart]

If the company still employed people from that era -- people who had any kind of decision-making power then, and still do today -- that might be different.

From VW's corporate site:

Please welcome our new Director of Product Testing, Dr. Christian Szell

[cryptique]

That social responsibility you mentioned

[caliber66]

That social responsibility you mentioned

[ction]

Bravo on using the holocaust to help explain why a semi-obscure former alt-country band having a song in a TV ad ruins the way you hear music.

[Good Old Neon]

Now you're just being juvenile. And you're sliding down a slippery slope.

 

If you really want to steer clear of every company that has so much as a whiff of blood on its hands, have fun in your shack in Montana, living off the land. You better mine your own ore to make your own tools, because you probably don't want to know what the various steel companies did in their youth. Don't buy lumber from anyone to build your shack -- you should only use wood you cut yourself. Don't buy your clothes unless you like supporting sweatshops. Et cetera and so forth. Have fun!

 

You, with one swipe of your hand, erased Volkswagen

[cryptique]

You, with one swipe of your hand, erased Volkswagen

[caliber66]

You, with one swipe of your hand, erased Volkswagen

[Good Old Neon]

You've got to be fucking kidding. No one could possibly be as dense as this "jnickerson" character you've created. Great bit.

 

"Nope. And to suggest otherwise is really reaching. The name has persisted, but nothing else."

 

Who said that?

[cryptique]

"Nope. And to suggest otherwise is really reaching. The name has persisted, but nothing else."

 

Who said that?

I did, and I stand by it.

 

Go on, keep digging. Oh, wait -- I need more popcorn.

 

I also said this:

 

This "I am the arbiter of all that is right and true in the world of Art" just makes you look like the biggest knob on the planet.

I stand by that, too.

[JUDE]

Bravo on using the holocaust to help explain why a semi-obscure former alt-country band having a song in a TV ad ruins the way you hear music.

 

 

I'll need a diagram to follow this thread. And a timeline.

[Good Old Neon]

I did, and I stand by it.

 

Go on, keep digging. Oh, wait -- I need more popcorn.

 

Do memories, lives and families ruined count?

 

I did, and I stand by it.

 

Go on, keep digging. Oh, wait -- I need more popcorn.

 

Perhaps your perspective would be changed if you were in some way affected.

[OOO]

Oh, wait -- I need more popcorn.

 

During the Depression, popcorn was a luxury at 5-10 cents a bag. When some of the other businesses failed, the popcorn business thrived.

 

You douchebag. The popcorn industry didn't help people at all during the great depression. How do you live with yourself?

[MattZ]

If you really want to steer clear of every company that has so much as a whiff of blood on its hands, have fun in your shack in Montana...

 

Frankly, I think this may be the best explanation for why I have an unexplained negative gut reaction to a song in a commercial. Every company -- well, almost every company -- has practices (past or present) that I don't agree with. Not to mention the advertising agencies they hire to "con you into thinking you're the one that can win what's never been won..."

 

VW/Nazi connections may be a bit of a stretch after so much time has passed, but corporate America ain't pretty. Layoffs, foreign cheap labor, questionable health benefits, etc. It's hard to see your favorite songs/bands in bed with them because, rightly or wrongly, we identify ourselves with those songs/bands and not with those companies. If music is a 50/50 experience (half of it's you and half is me) then selling a song to a commercial is coming close to making it a bit less than 50/50, no?

 

I don't blame the band. Happy that they could make some cash out of this. I will chuckle if/when I see the commercials for the first time, but I will probably change the channel after that.

[awatt]

The cat is out of the bag.

 

Wilco is huge.

 

I love em even more.

 

Can we end this silly thread and move on to more important matters, like how young Jeff looks in my avatar?

 

[cryptique]

Do memories, lives and families ruined count?

 

Perhaps your perspective would be changed if you were in some way affected.

ction, is that you? Or maybe Sir Stewart?

 

Damn, this is comedy gold. Start with a Wilco song appearing in a commercial, end with an invocation of the Holocaust. If Guinness tracked these kinds of records, we'd have a winner.

[plasticeyeball]

i'd rather hear a song i like in a commercial than a song that sucks. otherwise, the song that sucks might get stuck in my head all day which double sucks.

[Sir Stewart]

like how young stoned Jeff looks in my avatar?