‘Darling’ car advert spins out of control for angry women

HUNDREDS of angry Dutch women, and a handful of men, have complained to car manufacturer Renault after receiving handwritten letters, sent by ordinary post, purporting to come from an unknown admirer who called them “darling”, suggested meeting soon for a drink and signed themselves “lots of love M”.

The letter was in fact part of an advertising campaign for the new Twingo, to be launched in the Netherlands next month.

About 30,000 letters were sent and Renault is now writing 30,000 apologies.

The Amsterdam headquarters of Renault was bombarded with angry calls in recent days from Twingo owners who had received the letters in the post.

Francien Hermans, 50, from the town of Alphen aan de Rijn was one of them. “I was confronted by my son who saw the letter; he wanted to know what I was up to in secret and who had written this letter to me,” she said.

Almost 50% of the more than 500 people who to date have complained — most of them women — told Renault staff at the company’s Amsterdam headquarters that their partners either suspected them of carrying on an illicit affair or they believed themselves that they had a secret admirer wanting to meet them.

Several irate wives even berated their husbands after reading the letter. References to shopping in Paris and spending too much on clothes made them believe that the mystery M was a woman who wanted to start an affair.

The letters appeared to be individually handwritten due to the high quality of printing used and nowhere did the name Renault appear, though there were several references to the Twingo.

“We had some very angry people — couples were having a lot of discussion — some of it very heated, at home about who this letter could be from. Many believed it was real,” said Ike den Haijer, a spokeswoman for Renault Netherlands.