Volkswagen promises ‘less shocking’ future campaigns after Nomuzi outcry

Head of group communications at Volkswagen South Africa Andile Dlamini has apologised on behalf of the company for the outrage and distress caused by a botched campaign to highlight the dangers of texting and driving.

A video of rapper Nomuzi ‘Moozlie’ Mabena’s having an accident while talking to her fans on a live Instagram feed caused many to worry about her. It was later revealed to have been a campaign, leaving her fans on social media furious.

He said, according to SABC News: “We firstly have to apologise for the distress that was caused for people that were close to her, that felt that the campaign was real and that Nomuzi was badly hurt – but what was important to us was that the message came across.”

Dlamini stressed that soon after the video was released, Nomuzi revealed it was a campaign and that she was not hurt.

He added that, despite the outcry, the campaign still highlighted an important issue, and that the car company would try to find less contentious ways to get the message across in future.

READ MORE: Why Nomuzi ‘Moozlie’ Mabena faked her InstaLive accident as part of a VW campaign

“People need to understand that they cannot be texting and driving at the same time.  So the next campaign won’t be as shocking as this one.”

The car company’s initial statement, revealing that the accident was staged, called the stunt a “bold campaign”.

“The #MonatiWaFela campaign which kicked off in December 2018, saw popular hip-hop artist Nomuzi Mabena who goes by the stage name Moozlie, posting images on her social media pages which were indicative of drinking and driving. She was seen getting behind the wheel shortly after partying, making stops at a popular fast food outlet at 2am with a red beer cup, sharing her secrets on avoiding metro police, and blatantly drinking what appears to be gin, all whilst behind the driver’s wheel. Her holiday culminates in a heart-stopping live Instagram video, whilst Moozlie is talking about her dreams for 2019. Within seconds there is a sudden screech and crash and the audience realises that she has been in a car accident. For 12 hours after the accident is shared across social media, fans speculated and contemplated the reality of what they had just witnessed.

“After an agonising day of her fans imagining the pain she and her family must be going through and reflecting on their own beliefs and behaviours, Volkswagen, Moozlie, and Drive Dry released a video which revealed the truth about the accident. The crash and all subsequent posts leading up to it were staged in order to drive a powerful message home.”

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