For years, Volkswagen ran ads that emphasized how efficient, fun and, above all, clean its diesel cars were. A series of online ads last year featured three sisters debunking old wives’ tales about diesel, including that it was dirty and that it smelled bad.
But in the latest headache for the German automaker — which admitted last year that it had lied about the performance of its diesel technology — those ads have come under regulatory scrutiny. On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against the Volkswagen Group of America, saying the company’s “clean diesel” advertising campaign was deceptive.
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