German car marque Volkswagen is being mocked online after its Italian operations managed to mangle a rather unfortunate Instagram handle.
Combining Volkswagen with Italia seemed harmless enough until you realise it ends up as “@volkswagenitalia.”
A now-viral tweet pointed out that the tag kinda comes off as “volkswa genitalia,” which turned the brand into the butt of several online jokes and caused it to go viral.
“Volkswagen Italy, please never change your Instagram handle,” read one tweet that was liked over 250,000 times.
“Just went and followed this golden thaangg,” said another fan.
While another added: “Sorry, excuse me.” a third reacted.
For its part, Volkswagen Italy has yet to comment on all its newfound social media traffic or change the unfortunate spelling.
Others pointed out the faux pas was very similar to when Susan Boyle released an album in 2012 with the Twitter handle “Susan album party” which was soon translated as “su’s anal bum party”!
Meanwhile in other car/branding/social media news, American actress and activist Alyssa Milano’s attempts to shame Elon Musk and his companies Tesla and Twitter have come badly unstuck.
Last week, the 49-year-old declared on Twitter that she’d traded her Tesla for an electric powered Volkswagen in protest at Musk’s decision to allow controversial posters back onto the Twitter platform he’d just purchased.
Musk announced that a general amnesty for all the suspended accounts would begin soon. The eccentric billionaire said that the amnesty is for those suspended accounts that have “not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam”. That meant the likes of Donald Trump, Kanye, Jordan Peterson and kickboxer-turned-internet personality Andrew Tate were free to spout their nonsense once again.
Milano tweeted in response: “I’m not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company’s products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn’t seem to be a winning business model.”
I gave back my Tesla.
I bought the VW ev.
I love it.
I’m not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company’s products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn’t seem to be a winning business model.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 26, 2022
However, social media was quick to point of Volkswagen’s very own dark Nazi past. ‘The people’s car’, as it translates, was first commissioned by none other than Adolf Hitler himself way back in 1937.
And social media was soon on the attack:
.
Alyssa Milano didn’t like the Twitter accounts Elon Musk is allowing on his platform, so she dumped her Tesla and replaced it with a vehicle made by a company founded by literal Nazis because she’s fighting white supremacy. I’ve got nothing.
— cmetz (@cmetz81501469) November 26, 2022
Even Elon weighed in giving the post a smiling emoji.
While another attentive person reposted Milano’s older posts on Twitter where she had thanked Musk after she bought a Tesla model X.
