Business

VW gets dread-ful reaction to Super Bowl ad

The first pregame Super Bowl ad controversy of the year has arrived.

A Volkswagen Super Bowl ad that hit the Web on Monday and depicts a white office worker showing his happiness with a Jamaican accent is stirring up online controversy.

The ad shows a worker from Minnesota trying to cheer up co-workers in an accent often associated with black Jamaicans, because he has been made so happy by his Volkswagen. Pundits on NBC’s “Today” show, a Wall Street Journal blog and elsewhere have questioned whether the ad is offensive.

It’s a rare case of negative buzz for Volkswagen, which has had hit ads released before the Super Bowl for two years straight.

In 2010, the company released “The Force,” a Passat ad that showed a cute little kid in a Darth Vader costume trying to use the Force from “Star Wars” on uncooperative household objects. The ad was a hit and came in second in USA Today’s “Ad Meter,” which measures audience reaction to the ads. It has been seen 56 million times on Youtube.com.

In 2011, a pregame teaser called “The Imperial March,” which showed dogs barking music from the “Star Wars” score, was also popular.

But despite the media outcry, most comments surrounding the ad appeared to be positive.

Volkswagen, for its part, stood by the ad and says it has no plans to pull it.