Washington.- Three days after Volkswagen (VW) issued a statement in which it reported the alleged name change of its operations in the United States, the car company acknowledged on Wednesday that it was all a publicity stunt, amid the outrage and pressure from the press.
In a statement sent to Efe on Wednesday, VW spokesman in the United States, Mark Gillies, explained that the statement was part of an advertising campaign “to draw attention” to the launch of a new model of electric vehicle.
Despite the numerous criticisms that the company has received in the last hours, Gillies stressed that the numerous positive responses on social networks show that the company has achieved that goal.
Early on Wednesday, VW tried to calm the waters with a tweet on its official account in which it stated that “what began as an effort by April Fool’s (April Fool’s Day, which is celebrated in the US on April 1 April) has become a buzz around the world “and added that” it doesn’t matter if it’s a Voltswagen or a Volkswagen, people are talking about electric driving. ”
However, the press in the United States has stopped talking about the launch of VW’s first electric vehicle (EV) model to criticize its tactics and remember that the German firm has a history of deceiving the public and unsuccessful advertising campaigns.
There are many critical comments published by specialized media and journalists.
“If my name had the history that Volkswagen has, I would simply not try to attract attention” in reference to its origin in Nazi Germany, said on Twitter the journalist of the business area of the Wall Street Journal Mike Bird.
The Wall Street Journal, the main economic daily in the United States, only managed to confirm the falsity of the statements through a company spokesman in Germany due to the lack of responses from the American subsidiary.
Only after VW in Germany confessed, did VW spokesman in the United States, Mark Gillies, corroborate that he had been lying to the country’s main media, from the Globe Live Media news agency to USA Today, to CNBC and The Washington Post.