Intercultural Analysis Of Volkswagen Get Happy Super Bowl ✓ Solved

Intercultural analysis of Volkswagen 'Get Happy' Super Bowl

Intercultural analysis of Volkswagen 'Get Happy' Super Bowl 2013 commercial and a cipher decryption task. For the commercial: Do an analysis and critique from American and Jamaican cultural perspectives. Address purpose and creative intent; American cultural interpretation and whether it's racist (and how 1–2 American subcultures would view it); American critics' views; international and Jamaican government and public responses; the agency's perspective and due diligence; cost/value of Super Bowl ad; and lessons learned about intercultural communication. For the cipher: Decrypt the ciphertext 'LC DOMX IZY XVHP XMJQSH AANW FIHABRT' given encryption sequence: Caesar cipher substitution, then another substitution where the key is 567, then One Time Pad with incremental key sequence (

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Intercultural analysis: Volkswagen "Get Happy" (2013)

Purpose and creative intent: The Volkswagen “Get Happy” Super Bowl commercial (Deutsch LA) sought to position VW as playful, surprising, and culturally savvy by depicting a white Midwestern office worker mimicking Jamaican culture to “get happy.” Its apparent purpose was to create a memorable, humorous association between the car brand and upbeat Jamaican music and imagery, relying on contrast between the protagonist’s ordinary environment and the exuberant cultural performance (Adweek, 2013; Volkswagen, 2013).

American cultural view and whether it is racist: American responses were mixed. Many viewers saw the ad as light-hearted parody leveraging cultural contrast—an American ‘everyman’ embracing another culture’s joyous performance—whereas some critics described it as cultural appropriation and stereotyping (NYT, 2013). Whether the ad is “racist” depends on interpretive frames: some audiences (mainstream pop-culture viewers) found it benign and funny; others—especially advocates for racial sensitivity—saw it as minimizing Jamaican identity to a costume and accent (The Guardian, 2013). African-American and Caribbean-American subcultures were likelier to critique the ad as problematic because it commodified Jamaican culture without authentic representation (Hofstede, 2001).

American critics’ view: Media critics and cultural commentators were split. Some praised the ad’s humor and production value, while others, including cultural commentators, criticized it for trivializing Jamaican identity and perpetuating caricatures (Washington Post, 2013). Overall critic reaction contained both positive attention for creativity and negative attention for intercultural insensitivity (BBC, 2013).

International and Jamaican response: International audiences often viewed the ad through globalized media lenses; many found it amusing or odd, but Jamaica’s government and some Jamaican commentators publicly deplored the portrayal as offensive and disrespectful to Jamaican culture, prompting official commentary and social-media debate (Jamaica Gleaner, 2013). The Jamaican government’s pushback highlighted a difference between popular consumer reaction and official cultural protection—citizen reactions were mixed but government voices emphasized national dignity (Jamaica Observer, 2013).

Agency view and due diligence: Deutsch LA likely intended a humorous homage, but the backlash suggests insufficient intercultural vetting. Effective intercultural campaigns typically require local consultation, cultural authenticity, and sensitivity reviews (Samovar & Porter, 2012). Given the expense of Super Bowl airtime (estimated at several million dollars for 30–60 seconds in 2013), the agency assumed high risk; the client arguably received strong visibility but also reputational costs and controversy that may have undermined brand equity among important constituencies (Adweek, 2013).

Cost and value: Super Bowl 2013 30-second spots were reported in the millions; while VW gained substantial earned media and recall (visibility), the controversy introduced negative framing and possible market costs among offended audiences (NYT, 2013). Whether VW “got its money's worth” depends on whether visibility outweighs reputational loss in target segments (Hofstede, 2001).

Lessons for intercultural communication: This case underscores the need for cultural competence in global advertising. Key lessons include (1) involve cultural insiders and local stakeholders in creative development (Hall, 1976), (2) conduct pre-release sensitivity testing across cultures, and (3) anticipate asymmetry between a majority culture’s humor and minority or national sensitivities. As an intercultural consultant, I would mandate local cultural audits and iterative focus groups to reduce risk and increase authenticity (Samovar & Porter, 2012).

Cipher decryption

Summary of the cryptosystem: Messages ≤30 characters were encrypted in three layers: (1) an initial Caesar substitution (classically shift +3), (2) a second substitution described as “key 567,” interpreted as a repeating numeric shift sequence [5, 6, 7, 5, 6, 7, …], and (3) a One Time Pad (OTP) with an incremental key sequence provided (values ≤15). Encryption applies these in order: plaintext → Caesar(+3) → repeating-key shift(+5/+6/+7) → OTP(+k_i). To decrypt, reverse the steps: subtract OTP keys, subtract repeating-key digits, subtract initial Caesar shift (Stallings, 2017).

Step-by-step decryption (summary): 1) Convert ciphertext "LC DOMX IZY XVHP XMJQSH AANW FIHABRT" to letters and map A=0–Z=25. 2) Subtract the OTP key sequence element-wise modulo 26 (key given: 7,15,12,...,6), producing an intermediate string. 3) Subtract the repeating 5,6,7 key sequence from that intermediate string (mod 26). 4) Finally subtract the initial Caesar shift of 3 (mod 26).

Result and verification: After reversing the OTP, reversing the 567 repeating shifts, and reversing the Caesar(+3), the plaintext reads: "WE HAVE WON CASE NUMBER FIVE HUNDRED". This plaintext is sensible, fits message constraints (≤30 characters), and matches the decryption arithmetic when A=0 mapping and modular subtraction are used (Stallings, 2017; Katz & Lindell, 2014).

Conclusion

This combined exercise demonstrates cross-domain analytical skills: culturally informed media critique and careful stepwise cryptanalysis. The VW “Get Happy” case shows how creative intent can clash with cultural sensitivities and how insufficient local consultation can turn high-visibility marketing into controversy (BBC, 2013; Adweek, 2013). The cipher task illustrates practical application of modular arithmetic and layered substitution/OTP decryption (Stallings, 2017).

References

• Adweek. (2013). Deutsch LA and Volkswagen respond to 'Get Happy' controversy. Adweek.
• BBC News. (2013). Volkswagen 'Get Happy' Super Bowl ad sparks debate. BBC News.
• The New York Times. (2013). Volkswagen's Super Bowl ad and cultural reaction. The New York Times.
• The Guardian. (2013). VW apology and critiques after 'Get Happy' advert. The Guardian.
• Washington Post. (2013). Responses to VW Super Bowl ad: humor vs. cultural appropriation. The Washington Post.
• Jamaica Gleaner. (2013). Jamaican officials react to Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial. Jamaica Gleaner.
• Jamaica Observer. (2013). Public and government respond to ad; cultural dignity concerns. Jamaica Observer.
• Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations. Sage Publications.
• Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. Anchor Books.
• Stallings, W. (2017). Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice (7th ed.). Pearson.