Having a bad day? Wanna tie up your boss, put a ‘rope ball’ gag in his mouth, and then drive him up the Lonavala ghats and then toss him down the valley?
Sure!!
All you have to do is call FORD INDIA!! They have it all planned for you!
Check out the latest advertisement that Ford India released for its Car (that’s what they call it) FIGO:
I love the baseline – it says ‘Leave all your worries behind.’
Yeah!!!!
In fact, Ford India has taken the inspiration to a more humanitarian level – given that women in our country are objects of ‘anything you want them to be’, they have shown women gagged and trapped, wearing delightfully decent clothes, in a state of utter entrapment.
And the driver? Oh, who better than the most respected Man on the planet? Of course it’s the ‘bungabunga’ party thrower, the bud-dha (old man) who likes to have sex with 17 year prostitutes and also run a country on the side! Sure, it’s ex-Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi!
Now, we all know that Ford India has got RAMMED thanks to this ad campaign. Type ‘Ford Figo India’ and see what you see on google.
This is not another “haylaa – what did Ford do” article.
This is an ‘Oh I see, let’s see WHY did Ford do this’ article.
So, let’s assume that this ad was released by the Al Qaeda from the caves of Afghanistan (where the decision makers can’t be found and reprimanded). Then, the ad would remain publicly available and open for ‘advertising Ford Figo’.
Now, if your last car got burnt on the Sea Link or a couple of buffalos you were transporting died in the car and made it unusable, and you were looking out to buy a new car, you COULD consider the Ford Figo after seeing this AD because:
A) The car would make you a sex star like Berlusconi who claims to last out through the night ‘performing’? Hence, your bills on Viagra could be used to pay the car EMI!
B) You could enter the flesh trade and transport women conveniently?
C) You like buying FORD because it teaches you how to live with the worst
performing car brand in the world and therefore improves your patience?
D) You work for JWT India and want to show the SALES effect of this wonderful AD?
E) All of the above!!!!
Choose what you may, but the answer really is NONE OF THE ABOVE.
JWT India’s Nuclear Scientists released this ad for the MOST NOBLE reason on earth!!
(Nope, it was not charity or helping kids in Mongolia or to help find how Anopheles mosquitoes have sex. )
IT WAS TO WIN AN AWARD.
Yup!
This is so so reflective of the advertising business scene in India today:
– Let’s go to Goa, dance on the beach, drink beers and win awards!
– To win awards, let’s upload ‘some stuff’ on ‘some stuff’ that just proves that an ad was created.
– Shhhhh – don’t tell the brand. We are their agency no? We ARE THE GUARDIANS of their brand image, their consumer perception, their reputation. They will not mind this!
– After winning the awards, we will brush our teeth with coconuts and smile and smile and smile and get more photographs than Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift!
– Then, those photos and those awards will come in the newspapers and EVERYONE in the office and building will congratulate us.
This is the sorry state of advertising in India.
Ford – if you have the balls (bearings) in your cars, FIRE everyone that has anything to do with this ad and send the right message to the Indian Industry:
“Advertising is about truthfully telling consumers why they should buy a Company’s product via a message that is meaningful, fun and memorable.”
****
Shashidhara B
This is an excellent Write up on the “Headless Chicken” giving the Add without considering the emotion of Country and everything won’t apply everywhere.
I really liked the Add given by ICICI on “Per Bande Ache Hai – ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Bande Ache Hai” which is really boosting the moral of “Man” supporting the Family and also Family sentiments captured superbly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Et_KvsL9w
Thanks
Shashi
Siddhartha Ahluwalia
Hi Alok, this one is one of the most fun post by you.
Enjoyed and learned.
Cheers.
saravana kumar
The so called ‘creative gurus’ and their ‘sishyaas’ in the Indian Advertising world know nothing but bullshit. They forget that it is important to touch the customer emotionally to take the product closer to his/her heart (at least in India). Ogilvy will never forgive these guys!
Sanchita Dutta
i always wondered what the guys resp for this advt creation n release smoking? its a no-brainer that u will be in thick lump with such ads esp in times that we live in. shudder to think the kind of damage the ford brand would hv suffered.. one would be tempted to fire the people responsible for it , the “taliban style” and not the way they have been as i write this…
one could have actually booked them under various laws in india. perhaps peopl just forgot about this aspect and were just content to see the damage it caused all over and the firings …
also wonder how the ppl behind this ad would have faced their families back home …
Kasthuri Kumaran
This is just f@(*abulous! Had me rolling in laughter. The reference to Silvio is fab! Made a nice Saturday morning reading.
Pawan Deokule
As Bruce Barton from BBDO once put it, if I remember right ‘Advertising has a responsibility to behave properly’
Ford is the biggest client for JWT. JWT says that the creative head and the team put the ad out online without having an approval! The creative head gets fired and starts serving as a consultant elsewhere shortly after; but what is even more striking is that the Ford counterpart in India responsible also gets fired.
Looks like JWT shot an ad for research online, got backlashed and then started to dress up for the media and Ford’s marketing team seems to be equally involved.
The end result, a brand tarnished as print media now takes its news from online sources!! As for Silvio, don’t think he is going to leave his worries behind while the Indian govt has already snubbed them into place and the ad will definitely have its repercussions on Ford in Italy if not India.
JWT should realize that these messages that we create and send out has consequences and someone has to take the bullet. This client may not always take the bullet without passing it down!
Ashwin C Parulkar
Biggest blooper of advertising this year…Ford fired the Gun appropriately where it required the most.. and where it Hurts most:))))
Williambramb
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