Is anyone else a bit disturbed by VW's ads?

[LauraMax]

Is it supposed to be funny to make a game out of punching someone whenever you see a VW? I fail to see the humor.

 

[morningstar]

You've never heard of "punch buggy, no return"? It's a classic in Canada and I can tell you, seeing one of the original VW bugs is considered a legit reason to punch someone hard in the arm for no other reason.

 

[Bobbi-B]

I haven't seen these ads, but I do remember "punch buggy" from childhood/high school days.

 

[kathryn]

I don't think they're funny, either.
I think they're rather mean spirited.
Who are they supposed to appeal to: bullies? frat boys?

 

[spyrosmom]

Slug Bug Punch!

I was kinda happy to see it back. Classic!

Nan

 

[Liann]

My husband had to explain the commercial to me. I was like "what the heck are they doing???" He thought I was nuts for never hearing the term "slug bug". I told him it must be a west coast thing. Honestly, I'd never heard of it before though and still don't get the point. Dumb commercial anyways. Doesn't even look like a bug.

 

[LauraMax]

Nope, never heard of it.

OK, just so I get it, the point of the "game" is simply to have a reason to punch whomever is standing closest to you?

 

[atiman]

Well, it brings back memories from my childhood. We loved it as kids. It kept us occupied in the cars for hours.

It was a great travel game. You called "punch buggy" when you saw a VW bug. You scored up points for the type of color cars...like red punch buggy got 5 points, gold ones were rare and so on.

 

[fit_fairy]

OK, just so I get it, the point of the "game" is simply to have a reason to punch whomever is standing closest to you?

Yes, and that's what made it all the more fun when I was a kid. Because the person sitting next to me was always my one of my brothers or sisters and it gave me a "valid" excuse to punch them Slug bug is what we called it. And there was a VW dealership that we would drive by occasionally and I got to punch away!!!!!

 

[Janis]

We call it 'Slug Bug' and my boys still play it, sometimes if no siblings are around I'm the one who gets punched. Although, they have learned I punch back - reflexes - ya know!

When we saw the commercial we all laughed out loud - no explanation needed.

 

[Fit_mommy]

I used to play the punch buggy game when I was younger! LOL Never done in a malicious way. It was all for fun. Never actually hurt eachother!

 

[fit44]

I used to play the punch buggy game when I was younger! LOL Never done in a malicious way. It was all for fun. Never actually hurt eachother!

I played this game too! It was the only way I could hit my brother and swear I was only kidding.

 

[Fit_mommy]

I played this game too! It was the only way I could hit my brother and swear I was only kidding.

BWAHAHAHAHAH!

 

[bjbowers]

I loved Slug Bug!!! I still get the urge to punch someone and say Slug Bug when I see the old ones. Great memories!!

 

[Fit_mommy]

What about BANDIT? IIRC we would punch someone when we saw a car w/one headlite too! We were a mean bunch!

 

[Janis]

What's the game called when you slug someone (ME!) when you see an out of state license plate?

 

[Travisli]

my kids do the slug bug - but they've expanded to volkswagons in general -- ANY volkswagon elicits a slug. Like Janis though, I hit back so they don't usually hit me

I remember the license plate thing when I was a kid. . . I seem to recall my brother would slap me in the forehead with that one and then die laughing.

 

[Liann]

Ok, now I feel deprived since my parents never thought to teach me this game! I guess they had enough trouble with me and my sisters punching each other.

 

[LauraMax]

I feel totally in the minority, I guess b/c I just never found it fun to punch anyone (or get punched by anyone), even my siblings.

 

[chefkate]

I haven't seen the commercial but my girls and I play slug bug all the time! We never hit hard, just a gentle bump. Even the baby yells out "bug bug!" and starts waving her arms around to slug someone!