Swen gatekeeper / dpa
Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg
Volkswagen is revising its internal processes after the scandal surrounding a promotional video that is perceived as racist and wants to make employees more aware. Chief of law Hiltrud Werner said on Thursday at a conference call with journalists that the investigation by the internal audit had shown that racist motives had no role in the creation of the commercial. A lack of sensitivity and inadequacies in the processes would have led to the clip being released. VW would only take personal consequences if it intentionally and knowingly violated rules of conduct.
“On behalf of the Management Board, I would like to apologize in full for the fact that we have injured people due to a lack of intercultural sensitivity,” said Werner. “It violated values for which Volkswagen stands.” As a consequence, Volkswagen wants to set up, among other things, an independent “ethics board” made up of experts to examine the advertising messages on sensitive topics.
over the video had advised the board on Tuesday. However, VW had postponed the information to the public due to the turbulence surrounding CEO Herbert Diess at the beginning of the week.
In the clip, a man with dark skin is shown in front of a Golf, being roughly pushed around by an oversized hand. Finally, he snaps his hand into a building above the entrance of which the words “Petit Colon” (little settler) are written. This was understood as an allusion to European colonial history.
The advertising film triggered sharp criticism in the media and caused international headlines. VW was faced with allegations of racism. The reputation already struck by the diesel scandal was further damaged. VW apologized.
The advertising film also caused concern among the VW workforce. Works council chief Bernd Osterloh said he was ashamed of the Instagram spot. “The clip is disgusting and there’s no excuse for it,” he wrote on Linkedin. The shop stewards in the VW factories also referred to this video when they accused management of a “marketing and communication disaster” last week. The criticism had meant that Diess had to justify itself before the Supervisory Board.
On Monday, he had to hand over the management of the main VW brand to Ralf Brandstätter, who was already in charge of day-to-day business. This will remain the CEO and will continue to lead the brand group, which combines the volume brands VW, Skoda and Seat. On LinkedIn, he promised to coordinate more closely with the works council in order to reduce fears among the workforce.
la / dpa