Top Gear gets a slap on their wrists for Volkswagen advert

Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson are in hot water again from Ofcom, the media watchdog for broadcasting a spoof Volkswagen advert in which a man shot himself in the head because he had failed to buy a diesel car.

Ofcom, upheld complaints from 50 viewers who claimed the joke suicide scene was too graphic and unsuitable for a program watched by children. There have been several spoof ads on the BBC Two motoring show, however, the suicide advert was the one deemed to be offensive.

In a remake of a classic Volkswagen advert, a voiceover intoned: “This is the man who put a million on black and it came up red. This is the man who married a sex kitten just as she turned into a cat. This is the man who moved into gold just as the clever money moved out. The man then pulled out a revolver and shot himself in the head. As he lay dead on the floor, the voiceover said: “If only he’d waited for the new Scirocco TDI to go on sale.”

Ofcom concluded that there was no editorial justification for its inclusion. Last year Ofcom received 339 complaints when Clarkson joked that lorry drivers spent their time murdering prostitutes. To read more on this story go to telegraph.co.uk. Do you think Top Gear have gone to far? Let us know your thoughts.