The iconic ‘Changes’ advert creates a clever play on the Golf’s enduring reliability (Image: History of Advertising Trust)
Volkswagen has long been known for its creative advertising, and the arrival of the Mk2 Golf back in the 1980s gave the German marque the opportunity to deliver some of its finest work.
One of the brand’s most iconic adverts is known as ‘Changes’, named after the song by Alan Price which serves as its soundtrack.
The 50-second ad begins with a woman, played by model Paula Hamilton, leaving her husband. She tearfully walks out of the door, removing her wedding ring and putting it through the mail slot in the door, before angrily removing her jewellery and mink coat as she walks down the road.
Just before she’s about to throw her keys down a drain, however, she pauses before deciding the one thing she does want to keep is the car – of course, the Mk2 Golf. As she drives away with a smile on her face, the tagline reads: “If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen.”
At the time, the advertisement was very positively received, being awarded the Silver prize at the 1988 British Arrows Awards and catapulting Hamilton to fame. However, she came to resent being known as somewhat of a one-hit wonder for the commercial, telling The Mirror in 1997: “I always seem to be known as is Paula Hamilton the alcoholic and Volkswagen girl.”
With its feminist undertones, ‘Changes’ was similarly-styled aesthetically but topically different to its 1985 predecessor, ‘Casino’. This ad was specifically targeted at the Mk2 GTI, and is equally iconic given the numerous references made to it on Top Gear and The Grand Tour.
Depicting a dejected yet still somewhat cheery man leaving a casino, the star this time is described as “the man who put $1 million on black, and it came up red”.
As the voiceover rattles off his varying misfortunes in life, it concludes with him being named as the man who drives a Volkswagen. Why? The reasoning is”Everyone must have something in life he can rely on.”
