VW's 2012 Super Bowl ad pays homage to Star Wars, again

Volkswagen's 2011 Super Bowl ad was a winner with viewers, showing a youngster in a Darth Vader costume trying to exercise "the dark side" of the force, and this year's ad is another Star Wars-based one, though perhaps a lot more confusing.

In the 2011 ad, a young boy wears a Darth Vader costume, and goes around his home attempting to move objects with his Jedi powers. He is unsuccesful, until he attempts to use his powers on a Jetta, which amazingly starts. Cut to Dad, who is holding the car's key fob, obviously having punched the remote control “start” button.

The ad went so viral that the actor, who we never saw in the ad, was eventually unmasked on the Today Show. Max Page, then six years old, appeared on the NBC show with his mother Jennifer.

This year's ad centers around a dog. Yes, that's right, a dog. It's titled "The Dog Strikes Back." The dog, in fact, realizes he needs to lose weight because ... as he sees a VW Beetle drive by ... he notices that he can no longer fit through the dog door.

He then goes through a series of exercise scenes, until later in the ad he sees the same VW Beetle driving in the opposite direction. Now more svelte, the dog can get through the dog door and chase the car.

Then, however, the scene moves to an Flat-screen TV in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine. You remember Tatooine, don't you? It's the planet where Luke Skywalker lived, before he went roaming across the universe with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Chewie, and Leia.

You hear the familiar cantina music from the movie, and see characters you might recognize seeming to talk and argue about the Vader Kid story vs. the dog. Eventually, one of them, who is voting for the dog, reaches toward his throat ... the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, is using the Force to choke him. Yeah, he liked the Vader Kid more than the dog. Vader then releases him, stalks off, and things continue.

Our view: it's a nice homage to Star Wars, and ties into last year's ad, but in a very convoluted, confusing, and uncomfortable fashion. Although it ties the two together, it still seems convoluted.

Watch the video, and decide: confusing or not?

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

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