THE BEST ADVERTISEMENTS OF 1997

1 VOLKSWAGEN: "SUNDAY AFTERNOON" Most car ads talk about the car or the life-style of its owner. VW's infectious spot does neither. Instead, it shows two slacker twentysomethings cruising aimlessly around a desolate stretch of Los Angeles in their VW Golf to the monotonous ditty Da Da Da. They retrieve an abandoned chair from the street, only to discard it minutes later after detecting its stench, then drive off, leaving viewers with this message about the car: "It fits your life or the complete lack thereof." The spot breathed new life into its sound-track song, a 1982 release by the now...

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