Picture source: Advertising Age
Reading about the Ford Figo fiasco and the rolling of creative heads at JWT India creative heads, my only reaction was HOLI COW. You see, this week India is celebrating its festival of colors called Holi, but you can bet there are no celebrations in many agencies in this country right now.
I spoke with many of my industry peers in India to get their take on the debacle. Many slammed the credibility of those ads, saying that scam work is not respectable and shouldn’t be going on at all. Others didn’t think it was all that big a deal and believe the agency’s reputation and that of the creatives who were dismissed will not be dinged for the long haul. As the old saying goes, some believe all PR is good PR, and we have seen evidence in both Bollywood and Hollywood that scandals can actually help to elevate personal brands to celebrity status.
But what struck me the most was the mass sentiment of shock and horror over the firings. In the creative community in India, most people view this as an overreaction and believe that those creatives did not deserve to lose their jobs.
Some of it may boil down to cultural differences.
You see, Indians don’t think much of their politicians. Hell, we think all the politicians in this world are blood-thirsty villains with mansions in tax havens. So when we see those ads, we see the funny side of it. I understand that because the ads featured gagged, tied-up women in the trunk, it was viewed as tasteless and hit a nerve.
Overreactions from a typically conservative Indian brand may have been expected, but coming from an American brand like Ford? The reaction to us has seemed oddly uptight for a brand headquartered in the land of free speech.
Yes, the agency and its people messed up. But why couldn’t the client show some faith and character? Yes, the agency was trying to win awards out of scam ads. But the ad industry thrives on stretching boundaries. This definitely isn’t the first time and won’t be the last time that adventurous and ambitious folks have done things true to their nature.
Such radical, public action may lead to creative people being hesitant about joining the agency world or working on the Ford Figo brand.
People love to hate on scam ads, but why single out only the advertising industry? How about the automobile industry putting an end to making concept cars? That is to an engineer what a scam ad is to a copywriter.
No one really blamed Ford for this mess, and no one ever will. We all talk about brands having a “human side” and how consumers appreciate it, but when the time came to depict exactly that, the easy way out was taken.
Originally Published here in AdAge
asha chaudhry
hi vishal,
interesting to hear a different perspective on the ford ad mess.
here’s alok’s post on the same –
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/how-to-leave-all-your-worries-behind-learn-from-ford-india
How to ‘leave all your worries’ behind? Learn from Ford India!!
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.”
asha chaudhry
and this is sugandha dubey’s post on the topic – she doesn’t share your opinion though…
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/award-candy
Vishal Mehra
Thanks for sharing Sugandha, i genuinely feel people have missed the whole point of this campaign.
And the bigger issue for me is firing of JWT creative team, which was an overreaction.
sriharsha b
Vishal,
I agree with every single word of your article.
Creativity should be let free.You cannot fire the creative head over an ad which has actually passed the responsibility grind of many authorities.
Content gets churned out over ideas and no idea is bad.
Until and unless we see different sides of the coin the best cannot come.
This ad might be in bad taste for some, but then this is not the only one.
If this act continues to happen we would soon see the death of creativity.
~Harsha