The Force
Volkswagen2011
The Force is a 2011 60-second television commercial for Volkswagen, created by Deutsch, Los Angeles.
The line
The all-new 2012 Passat.
Why it works
A pint-sized Darth Vader tries to use the Force on the laundry machine, the dog, a sandwich — and finally, apparently, on the family Passat, secretly started by Dad's remote key. No dialogue, one joke, perfect escalation. Released on YouTube days before Super Bowl XLV in 2011, it racked up tens of millions of views before kickoff — the move that invented the now-standard practice of pre-releasing Super Bowl ads online, converting a 60-second media buy into weeks of earned attention. It is studied for that distribution innovation as much as the craft: a wordless story any culture can read, built on a child's eyes behind a mask. It won a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2011.
Techniques
- Humour A pint-sized Darth Vader fails to use the Force on the washing machine, dog and sandwich, escalating until Dad's remote key secretly starts the Passat.
- Storytelling Tells a wordless story through a child's eyes behind a mask, with failure after failure building to one apparent triumph any culture can read.
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