Lampoon's Surrender

The National Lampoon's jejune penetrations of the frontiers of bad taste have earned it a devoted following (800,000) and hilarious profits. But a mock advertisement in Lampoon's 1973 Encyclopedia of Humor brought the magazine's madcap staffers some serious trouble. "If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he'd be President today," said the realistic-looking ad copy under a photo of a Beetle floating hubcap-deep in water. The text explained that Volkswagen's watertight construction--a selling point in genuine VW ads--would have prevented the 1969 drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne. Volkswagen of America began receiving outraged letters from readers who thought that VW itself was responsible for the ghoulish idea ("I will be damned if I will buy another Volkswagen after seeing an ad like the attached," wrote one customer).

VW responded with a $30 million damage suit against Lampoon, charging violations of trademark and copyright laws and defamation. Last week Lampoon agreed to withdraw all unsold copies of the magazine by Nov. 15 (450,000 were printed), to destroy the plate of the ad, and to run Volkswagen's statement on the incident in the magazine's January issue. It seemed only fitting that the Lampoon, which has thrived on necrological humor, would at last find itself forced to kill one of its own items.

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