VW Makes Musical Stairs, Trick Garbage Can

Volkswagen, as everybody knows, makes automobiles. So an article published by U.K.-based tech journal The Register, known for its snarky attitude and good-natured humor, raised my suspicions. But Volkswagen, known for its good-natured and wildly inventive marketing campaigns, is using its musical subway stairs and "bottomless" trash bin to promote its latest publicity stunt, dubbed "The Fun Theory."

The videos were posted without much fanfare and spread virally (I know, bad time of year to use that word) before VW launched its Fun Theory Web site (linked above). The first one features a staircase ascending from a Stockholm subway station retrofitted so that each step plays a different piano sound. As you can see from the video below, they even painted the steps like keys:

I think the message here is that it's fun, not to mention good exercise, to use the stairs instead of the robotic drudgery of the adjacent escalator. In any case, it is a lot of fun and reminds me of Tom Hanks in the movie "Big."

But the fun doesn't stop there. Volkswagen also equipped a Swedish "rubbish bin," as the Brits over at The Register call it, with a musical chip that sounds as though the tossed object is falling down a deep mine shaft. That would get your attention, right? Check it out for yourself:

Okay, so it doesn't exactly make me want to buy a car. But you have to hand it to their marketing guys, Volkswagen always will be considered cool.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Merz, via Wikimedia Commons