Back in high school, one of The Wheezer's favorite magazines was The National Lampoon. One of my favorite parody advertisements was this one for Volkswagen. Could this spoof have been done today? The text in the ad reads:
If Ted Kennedy Drove A Volkswagen, He'd Be President Today.
It floats.
The way our body is built, we'd be surprised if it didn't.
The sheet of flat steel that goes underneath every Volkswagen keeps out water, as well as dirt and salt and other nasty things that eat away at the underside of a car. So it's watertight at the bottom.
And everybody knows it's easier to shut the door on a Volkswagen after you've rolled down the window a little. That proves it's practically airtight on top.
If it was a boat, we could call it the Water Bug. But it's not a boat, it's a car.
And, like Mary Jo Kopechne, it's only 99 and 44/100 percent pure.
So it won't stay afloat forever. Just long enough.
Poor Teddy.
If he'd been smart enough to buy a Volkswagen, he'd never would have gotten into hot water.
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The great thing about satire and parody is that there is always a sting of truth in the message. -SL
Yes, this is probably the sharpest, and certainly the most famous, of Lampoon's parody ads. It'll never wither in my memory. My other favorite parody of theirs was the National Lampoon High School Yearbook, maybe the funniest issue of ANY magazine. I had a copy back in the eighth decade of the last century, but, alas, lost it somewhere along the journey. AAUUGGHhh!
Posted by: Jay Amicarella | February 20, 2007 at 08:43 AM