JWT Worldwide forced to apologise for Ford Figo celebrity press campaign created by JWT Delhi
JWT Worldwide has had to issue an apology for a recent press campaign in India for Ford Figo. The ads were created by JWT Delhi during an in-agency brainstorming session and were never meant to see the light of day. The ads feature Paris Hilton, Michael Schumacher and Silvio Berlusconi and promote the storage area of the Figo’s boot.
“[We] deeply regret the publishing of posters that were distasteful and contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within WPP Group,” reports a statement from the agency on the UK’s Daily Mail website.
“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.”
8 Comments
Now we know why there are so many assaults in India thinking it is all ok to kidnapped and do whatever they want.
See what happens when award-crazed creatives go hog wild without the adult supervision of suits and planners….
Maybe the Ford execs should check whether they were charged for this ‘internal brainstorm’?
Pretty good illustration for an internal.
Whenever I see a campaign from India with illustration, it always looks fishy. What’s the matter? Don’t photographers there work for free to do proactive ads?
Don’t think this was ever meant for the indian audience. The kardashians? Who watches them in india?! Anyhow, lesson learnt- if you want to do something scammy, at least do it well.
They would never win any awards anyway, but am I wrong to think the Silvio Berlusconi execution is quite funny?
This is what happens when global and regional ECDs put so much pressure to win awards by ANY means possible. I can almost bet that the ones who will lose their jobs over this stupidity will be the small fry who did the ads, not the ones who are constantly instigating it.
Read somewhere that they got rid of the two senior most creatives. Although you can bet this is only happening because the Ford account is worth 200 mill or so worldwide. Otherwise it’d be biz as usual.
Scammers will now have to focus more on zero financial impact clients like Red Cross, Greenpeace, WWF etc.
It’s sad to hear Bobby Pawar quit JWT. He could have made the elephant dance after Aggie. Yeah they were hungry for awards. But, bad luck it was Ford. If they would have had done it for any small Indian clients they could have at least saved their jobs. But I feel that there is no need to make a big issue of it. As it wasn’t meant for the US audience. And in India who cares about Kardashians, Berlusconi…
Recently for women’s day I saw ads done by Taproot ( a creative agency in India) where the Hindu Goddesses were shown with bruises which means that they were physically abused. These ads could have created a furor among the Hindu fanatics. But luckily nothing happened. Take it lightly.
Moral of the story : Do ads that don’t mock anyone and hurt the sentiments of the masses. Be wise. it’s Advertainment (Advertising + Entertainment)
Sad thing that JWT didn’t support their employees. They wagged their tails before Ford. Well this incident will definitely make the creative guys think twice before coming up with a dare devil idea. Such type of incidents will stunt the creative growth of Indian Advertising.