Glover said the company landed millions of dollars in publicity from a press release. “Perhaps we should consider whether (the) marketing campaign was funnier in the original German?” said Juleanna Glover, a corporate consultant and founder of the firm Ridgely Walsh. “About that plan to change Volkswagen of America's name.” wrote USA Today's Mike Snider. The AP and other news organizations that falsely reported the news later wrote about the hoax. The whole thing is just a marketing action to get people talking” about its new car model. The Journal quoted a spokesman for the company in Germany as saying, “we didn't mean to mislead anyone. Gillies, after presenting the false information the day before, came clean on Tuesday. In 2018, the food chain IHOP briefly tried to convince consumer it was exchanging the “P" in its name to “B,” trading pancakes for burgers. There's some precedent for a company trying a “fake news” joke. It even changed its Twitter page, announcing that “we know, 66 is an unusual age to change your name, but we've always been young at heart.” Why should anyone trust you again?”Īt first on Tuesday, the company doubled down on its story by reissuing the news release, which quoted Scott Keogh, the president and CEO of Volkswagen of America. In case you haven't noticed, we have a misinformation problem in this country. “This was not a joke,” reporter Nathan Bomey wrote on Twitter. The USA Today reporter who was initially lied to was more blunt. “We are disheartened that the company would choose this type of disingenuous marketing.” “The company used this fake announcement as a way to manipulate respected reporters from trusted news outlets to get attention for their marketing campaign,” she said. It was a similar story at USA Today, where a reporter specifically asked if it was a joke and was told “no,” said the newspaper's spokeswoman, Chrissy Terrell. The AP wrote a story about it Monday after its reporter was assured by Mark Gillies, a company spokesman in the United States, that it was serious, Easton said. CNBC, which declined comment on the hoax, is believed to be the first major news organization to report it as legitimate news. The story emerged Monday after a news release was briefly posted on a company website and then disappeared, but not before catching some eyes. This and any deliberate release of false information hurts accurate journalism and the public good.”
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“We have corrected our story and published a new one based on the company’s admission. subsidiary planned a name change, and reported that information, which we now know to be false," company spokeswoman Lauren Easton said. “The Associated Press was repeatedly assured by Volkswagen that its U.S.
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The deception even briefly lifted stock prices for the company, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first revealed the deception by reaching an official at the company headquarters in Germany. Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, USA Today, CNBC and The Washington Post, had reported the original press release as real news, some after being assured specifically that it was no joke. subsidiary to “Voltswagen of America” in an attempt to be funny and promote a new electric utility vehicle. Volkswagen admitted Tuesday that it had put out a false news release saying that it had changed the name of its U.S.