Indian Car Ad Goes Viral, Not in a Good Way

Perhaps putting the maxim that there is no such thing as bad publicity to a new test, Ford Motor Company was forced to apologize Monday for an ad posted online last week promoting its Indian hatchback with a cartoon showing three bound and gagged women in the rear of a vehicle driven by Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister.

A screenshot of an ad posted online last week by JWT India to promote the Ford Figo, a hatchback car made in India.

The cartoon was posted online by JWT India, a branch of one of the world’s largest ad agencies, as part of a series intended to illustrate the small car’s rear storage space, with the tagline: “Leave your worries behind with Figo’s extra-large boot,” or trunk. After the image rapidly spread online, and prompted a backlash from women’s groups in India, it was withdrawn, along with two other versions of the cartoon ad, which showed the reality television star Paris Hilton using the car to abduct the Kardashian sisters and the Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher kidnapping three of his rivals.

Although the agency apparently never paid to place the ads anywhere, and Ford is still trying to determine if anyone at its Indian subsidiary had seen or approved of the campaign, the carmaker moved to distance itself from the cartoons on Monday. Ford said in a 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. Together with our partners, we are reviewing approval and oversight processes to help ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

As The Hindu newspaper pointed out, the ad featuring Mr. Berlusconi was spectacularly ill-timed, coming amid tensions between India and Italy over accusations that two Italian marines killed Indian fishermen, and “less than two days after months of public outcry about the need to protect women from sexual violence led to the passage of a new anti-rape law by Parliament.”

The Italian news agency Ansa suggested that the firm chose to feature Mr. Berlusconi because he “cultivates an image as a lady killer and is currently standing trial on accusations he paid for sex with an underage prostitute.”

In response to angry comments on JWT India’s Facebook page, which now features a campaign headlined “Men Against Rape and Discrimination,” the firm referred readers to a statement from its parent company, which read: “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.”

The same company was also forced to apologize last year for an ad produced by a branch in Argentina that was filmed secretly in the Falklands and promoted Argentine claims on the islands.

As the Web site IndianCarsBikes.in reported, the controversial ads for Ford surfaced just six months after Volkswagen India was widely criticized for an ad campaign that also attempted to be racy but insulted female drivers by stating that women “do not understand real driving experience.”