"Batteries Included"

3 July 2025

60s

Indulge your inner child.

This sweet Australian commercial for Volkswagen's range of electric vehicles puts it to its audience that they should remember that we can use our cars to indulge ourselves. On a sub-conscious level, it taps into the idea that journeys made using an electrical vehicle can be guilt-free, because they they are not pumping out emissions. (They are not without their environmental cost, of course, but the perception of owning one is that you're doing your bit to save the planet.)

The ad is comprised of short vignettes where the vehicle awaits its owners as they do something fun in a variety of locations, the idea being that they're indulging their inner child. The endline 'batteries included' provides a double-meaning as both a reversal of that Christmas shattering phrase: 'batteries not included' and as a reminder that these are electrical vehicles, reeking of modernity and the aforementioned benefits to the immediate environment.

Australia

Cars