Creators Of Controversial Ford Ad Dismissed

Thomas Kreutzer
by Thomas Kreutzer

Ad Age is reporting that Ford’s advertising agency, JWT, has fired the ad agency staffers behind a pair of offensive ads showing bound and gagged women in the back of a Ford Figo hatchback. Ford is not, however, looking to change advertising companies over the fiasco. The images were created by JWT staffers in India and then uploaded to the ad agency’s website. Such ads are often created without client approval as a way for ad designers to bolster their portfolios and were never intended to become part of Ford’s official campaign to promote the Figo.

With sexual assaults very much in the news in India the ad could not have been released at a worse tim. One of the images show former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was center of a storm of controversy regarding his alleged sexual adventures, with several women bound and gagged in the back of the car . A similar image shows reality TV star Paris Hilton with her reality rivals, the Kardashians, in a similar situation.

Although they bear no responsibility for the ads, Ford has added its apologies to those of the ad agency.

http://adage.com/article/global-news/jwt-india-sacks-staffers-responsible-offensive-ford-ad/240555/

Thomas Kreutzer
Thomas Kreutzer

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  • Johnny ringo Johnny ringo on Mar 27, 2013

    This looks like something National Lampoon would have done if the publication were still around. It was probably meant for in-house amusement but in this era of the internet and facebook this kind of stuff can go viral in an instant. Which was obviously what happened and given that attacks on women in India is now a spectator sport it obviously puts Ford in a bad situation.

  • Pebble Pebble on Mar 28, 2013

    The Kardashians should licence their name to Ford for a spendy, Range Rover-type vehicle...the Ford Dash.

  • Sky_Render Sky_Render on Mar 28, 2013

    Wasn't there a fourth image that featured professional Race car drivers? That one was actually kind of funny.

  • Yeah_right Yeah_right on Mar 28, 2013

    There is some grade A snark coming from the B&B. Thanks for the smirks and giggles. I'm an engineer, so forgive me this point. It's not very well drawn, no? It's completely disproportional. I mean, the girl in brown must have had her spine snapped to get her legs in that position. And the girl in white is even worse. She apparently has no legs.

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