Audi Car Ad Echoes Plessy v. Ferguson: Endorses 'Separate Yet Equal'

By Sam Diener, Peacework Co-Editor, with additional research by Peacework interns Ivy Sánchez and Shaundra Cunningham

The carmaker Audi ran a half page ad in the July 23, 2007 New York Times with the headline, 'Separate. Yet equally capable of shaking up a tired old category.'

I am appalled that a corporation would, in 2007, apparently endorse Plessy v. Ferguson [1], the Supreme Court case which deemed racist segregation laws constitutionally valid because they were separate but equal.

I was especially outraged because I would hope that Audi, since it built armaments for the Nazi regime*, would want to work against racism in 2007, not endorse it.

I called Venables, Bell, & Partners [2], the advertising agency who created the ad, and talked with Erik Peterson, an account representative who worked on the ad, on Friday August 3rd, 2007.

When I asked Peterson why Audi was endorsing Plessy v. Ferguson, he was confused. He asked what Plessy v. Ferguson was. I explained that it was a landmark case upholding segregation, summarized as 'separate but equal,' and that Brown v. Board of Education overturned it. I wondered why Audi was endorsing Separate but Equal, Plessy v. Ferguson, and racism.

Peterson said, 'Are you going to print that? The client won' t like that.'
I asked him if he was concerned that the ad endorsed racism. He said, 'I' m concerned that you' re interpreting it that way and might influence others to interpret it that way too. I just looked up Plessy v. Ferguson and it' s an 1896 case, I' m not sure why you' re bringing it up now.'

I explained that the recent Supreme Court case a few weeks ago (Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 [3]) partially overturned Brown v. Board, so Plessy was very much in the news (see commentary on the NAACP LDEF Supreme Court School Integration [4] blog, this essay about how this decision reinforces Plessy [5], and this statement by nine university-based civil rights centers [6]). It appeared that with the Separatte Yet Equal advertisement, Audi was trying to 'shake up' the buying public by not only approving of the recent Supreme Court case, but siding with Plessy.

Peterson said, 'There was no intent to reference the Supreme Court decision you referred to. That was never the intent. We want to sell cars in a luxury category, not endorse anything like that. You' re reading that into it. I had no idea.'

Peterson continued, 'I just looked up the phrase separate yet equal and what I found is a reference to the Law and Order TV series: '˜In the criminal justice there are two separate yet equally important...' '**

I asked him if they were going to continue to use the line in question in future ads, but he declined to comment.

When asked to verify the spelling of his last name, he suddenly said that this interview was not to be quoted. I told him that I identified myself as an editor with Peacework Magazine at the beginning of our conversation, and that he had told me he was looking at the Peacework website at that time, so he knew I was calling as a journalist. I told him that he didn' t ask and I didn' t agree for the conversation to be off of the record.

Peterson said he' d call his lawyer and hung up. At Audi USA, a person named Carolyn said I should speak with Ms. Ward, the General Manager for Marketing. After making repeated phone calls seeking comment, Christian Bokich, with Audi public relations, called back twice to say he couldn' t comment, but would attempt to see if there was anyone else there who could. No one from Audi has done so as of six days later, August 9th, 2007.

The phone number at Venables is 415/288-3300.
Audi USA' s phone number is 248/754-5000 (perhaps you could ask to speak with Ms. Ward).

Whether Venables and Audi were aware of the connection between the language of Plessy and the language of their ad in advance or not, whatever their intent was, they can no longer make that excuse. Venables and Audi could be called and urged to pledge to drop any advertising explicitly or implicitly endorsing the racism of Plessy v. Ferguson, and to drop this ad campaign in particular.

* Audi' s website is circumspect [7] about for whom they were building these arms, and expresses no remorse. On Audi' s website, where they discuss their history, Audi (then called Auto Union) has only this to say about building weapons for the Nazis, 'With the development and production of special vehicles for military purposes, Auto Union became an important supplier of vehicles to the armed forces in the mid-1930s. Following the outbreak of war, civilian production was interrupted in May 1940. After this, the company produced exclusively for military purposes.'

** The actual Law and Order TV show narrated lead in is:
'In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.'