Ford Apologizes For Racy Ads In India

Ford Apologizes For Racy Ads In India

Ford Apologizes For Racy Ads In India. Ford Motor Company and the advertising firm WPP have issued apologies after mock ups of ads for the Ford Figo, were posted on the portfolio-sharing site Ads of the World last week and spotted by a Business Insider reporter, who called them “disturbing.”

One depicted Paris Hilton at the wheel, winking, with the three Kardashian sisters tied up in the car’s trunk. Another featured three bound and gagged women in the trunk and former Italian prime minister and infamous “Bunga Bunga” partier Silvio Berlusconi at the wheel, flashing a peace sign, and the following tagline: “Leave Your Worries Behind with the Figo’s extra-large boot.” The third put Formula One driving champ Michael Schumacher at the wheel with a trunk full of his longtime male rivals. They have since been taken down from the site.

Autoblog summarizes the other two ads that were uploaded:

 Another version shows Paris Hilton ­similarly kidnapping a trio of Kardashians, while a third (tame in terms of the clothing at least), has Michael Schumacher toting Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton.

The ads were not approved by higher-ups and were not used commercially, according to JWT (part of worldwide ad agency giant WPP), which released the following statement:

“We deeply regret the publishing of posters that were distasteful and contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within WPP Group. These were never intended for paid publication and should never have been created, let alone uploaded to the internet. This was the result of individuals acting without proper oversight and appropriate actions have been taken within the agency where they work to deal with the situation.”

Ford added in its own statement: “We deeply regret this incident and agree with our agency partners that it should have never happened. The posters are contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford and our agency partners.”

A Ford spokesperson added, in an email to Yahoo! Shine, "These were posters that were concepts to be entered in a creative ad competition in India.  They were never intended as any sort of campaign or paid use…as such, they did not go through the normal approvals and process before being uploaded to a website."

Ford Apologizes For Racy Ads In India