JWT-Ford Figo Ad 'Controversy' & Spineless Organizations

Heads have rolled at JWT. The ‘controversial’ Ford ads have taken their toll on the chief creative officer and managing partner.

Where is the sense of humour? Or is there any sense or just crude sensibilities at play?

Ford has publicly distanced itself from these ads. JWT has apologized and fired its creative heads. They feel that the ads have hurt sentiments as in India, likewise in US.

The logic presented? In India the sentiments have been wounded because of the national outcry over rape; and in US because the ads were in pure taste!

C’mon!!! you got to differentiate between humour and criminal acts. Problem of a society with the alleged ‘bunga-bunga’ of Silvio Berlusconi is understandable, but a creative sarcasm on that – should that be decried? And the other ads – Paris Hilton packing Kardashian sisters or Michael Schumacher packing his peer drivers in the boot of Ford Figo just shows occasional competitor’s hidden comical fantasies. How can that be offensive?

One has to be dumb to interpret these ads as sexual innuendos, racist or insulting. By that measure all political cartoon strips should be pulled-down and all those newspapers taken-out of circulation.

Besides shockvertising is not new. United Colors of Benetton has scored immensely with such a strategy. In fact during the ‘unhate campaign’ controversy, although the company pulled-down some ads, the Italian art director and photographer Oliviero Toscani was credited with creating Benetton’s daring advertising campaign. Breaking the age-old advertising tricks, Benetton has always pushed sensitive subjects and challenged realities.

Ford takes the promotion and also the PR points

Anuja Chauhan in her opinion column in ET has termed these ads as prtoducts of award disease. She has siad - "And this is the crux of it. In these confused, insecure, commissioncutting, knee-jerk times, nobody knows what a good ad is any more."

Really!

What is a good ad, Anuja? When did Ford have a promotion, the way it got this time around? Everyone know that Figo has a big boot after these ads! That was the message intended and it got across to the customers loud and clear. Anuja Chauhan may keep her opinion to herself. for she has no idea!


After all those promotional gains, Ford is now bust gathering some cheap PR points. Infact Ford India has also fired one of its employees over these ads.

Spineless Organizations

Organizations need to have little more guts than JWT and Ford. Finding scapegoats out of employees when they were just doing their work is cowardly. In the event something goes wrong, firing employees seems to be such a spineless act. In fact some professionals from the advertising industry see it as an appeasement strategy ( to appease the 'globals gods or the clients'). I wonder how the creative minds would work from now in JWT!

Young India

A British survey has revealed that India is by far is the youngest nation in the world. A BPW Foundation’s Gen Y study published in April 2011 also noted that by 2025, Generation Y will make up roughly 75% of the world’s workforce. With this many millenials making up the majority of the workforce by 2025 — only 13 years away — employers can’t afford not to take notice.

With a teeming Gen Y both at workplace and as an emerging dominant consumer base, JWT & Ford’s actions would hardly engage this generation. I fact some casual interviews with Gen Y on these ads and the controversy that followed, reveals that most of them see Ford and JWT's reactions & actions as 'silly', 'harsh' and 'abandoning' (their employees).