Released: 03 June 1987

VW Golf 'changes' by BMP

No ad from the 80s better captured the materialistic spirit of the decade than BMP's "Changes" spot for the Volkswagen Golf.

The commercial told a perfectly-judged story to support the endline: "If only everything in life were as reliable as a Volkswagen".

It opens with a gorgeous-looking Paula Hamilton storming out of her lover's mews house in the early morning, tossing aside house keys, ring, pearls and fur coat as she does so.

Only when she gets to the point of dropping the car keys down the drain does pragmatism take over and she ends up driving away in a Golf.

The pace of the plot is set by Alan Price singing Changes, a song he wrote for his friend, Zoot Money, when his marriage broke up.

This ad was taken from the Arrows Archive. The archive, administered by the History of Advertising Trust, is composed of all ads nominated for the British Television Advertising Awards since 1977.

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All Comments

Rob Mortimer - 17 June 2009

It's a great ad, but \(with no data to view) one that always feels a little like its retrospective importance is greater than its performance at the time,

Sue Turner - 18 June 2009

I think you're right. Most of the chatter at the time concerned Paula Hamilton. (She looked ancient with all that hairspray and pearls.) The car was secondary. I never liked it anyhow. No humour. Remote. Pretty much like the Sloanes.