Boomer Follies, Part Fifty Billion: VW Introduces "Beetle for Nobody"

Start with a car that is essentially a boutique version of an existing model; its sole reason for existing, to offer a cute, appealing alternative to the increasingly masculine, aggressively-styled cars in its class. Take its basic shape, strip it of the whimsy and formal simplicity that made people like it in the first place, and replace it with, well, masculine aggression. Congratulations, Volkswagen: you've just invented the PT Cruiser!

Need further proof that VW's marketers have their fingers on the (ever fainter) pulse of the sexagenarian set? Don't miss VW's "MTV World Stage Event" unveiling, featuring none other than the Black Eyed Peas, aka the band that nobody likes, either.

2011: The Year Brake Bling Broke

Nowhere does brand awareness play a more savage role in defining social hierarchies than on the suburban playground. When I was growing up, in vapid 1970s southern California, every fourth-grader understood implicitly that coming to school in something other than Vans, a Lightning Bolt shirt, and OP shorts was tantamount to an open admission of subhumanity. Good news then for aspiring fashion police in the wastelands of western Ontario, Canada, where this kiddy cop car was recently sighted sporting a full complement of polished Brembos. Would your child be seen in anything less?



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