FRANKFURT — Volkswagen Group has withdrawn an Instagram snippet meant to promote the latest Golf model after social media users criticized the video clip for using potentially discriminating motifs.
The snippet showed a man with dark skin moved around like a marionette by a large white hand before being snipped into the entrance of the Petit Colon cafe in Buenos Aires. The cafe is next to the popular Teatro Colon named after Italian explorer and colonist Christopher Columbus.
Some social-media users suggested that floating letters in the video clip briefly spelled a pejorative German word for people of color.
In a statement, Volkswagen apologized: “Without question: the video is wrong and tasteless,” the company said. “We will clarify how this could happen — and take consequences from this.”
VW has stepped up diversity and integrity efforts since the manufacturer’s diesel-emissions manipulation came to light five years ago.
Last year, VW CEO Herbert Diess apologized for using a phrase that appeared to play on a slogan with right-wing connotations.
VW said it opposes any form of racism, xenophobia and discrimination, especially against the backdrop of its own corporate history. VW was founded in 1937 during the Nazi era.