Offensive advertising

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There’s a lot of blather in the trades these past few days about some Indian ads for the Ford Figo car.  One ad shown here features the Italian politician, playboy and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi with three female porn stars tied up in the back. Another ad shows Paris Hilton, star of the porn movie `One night in Paris’, sitting in the driver’s seat and her rivals, the Khardashian sisters, bound and gagged in the back. There have been screams of shock and horror and it’s been reported that heads have rolled at Ford, the agency JWT has fired those they held responsible and lawyers have been briefed by the Khardashians. The train wreck has left the station. And more publicity has been generated for this unimpressive car than could ever have been dreamed. Despite protestations that this was unintentional and the result of poor oversight or perhaps it’s because of those protestations, the cynic in me thinks this was really the plan of a devious genius. This was not the work of some ad school. JWT is no small chicken shack of a business. Ford is no local maverick dealership. Each company employs legions of legal death eaters whose sole job is to manage the risk factor in all communications. India is currently in the headlines already over its attitude and response to recent crimes of rape. One would think the sensitivity to portraying women in advertising would be at its highest. The fact that these ads were even conceived tells you what the level of sensitivity really is. The fact that the account team presented them to the client tells you which part of their anatomy housed their heads. And the fact that the client didn’t fire the agency on the spot tells you that someone saw an opportunity for controversy and went for it. Will the Indian public boycott the car? No. The fact that the western world is getting its underwear in a bunch over this is irrelevant to them. This just advertising. Which is what the devious deviants who let this play out are depending on. It will be interesting to see the sales figures for this car. And the next ad. Maybe it will have Hitler. He’s always good for getting attention.