The most disturbing car ad starring Silvio Berlusconi you will see today

Via Ads of The World

Ball gags?!? This is part of a bizarre campaign, by JWT India, for a Ford with lots of trunk space.

The other executions show Michael Schumacher with rival drivers tied up in the back, and Paris Hilton having kidnapped the Kardashians.

Really weird and disturbing. I'm surprised the Ford brand is good with this.

Update: The ads were really created by Ford's Indian AOR, but were not ever approved.

Ford and its ad agency issued apologies for a tasteless Ford Figo ad — in which former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi is shown with a bunch of gagged and crying women in the trunk of his car — that was never meant to see the light of day. 

It turns out a young creative team at JWT India, Ford Figo's agency of record, made the spot and posted it to website Ads of the World without approval. (It has since been removed.)

Ford and WPP Group (owner of JWT) have nonetheless issued formal apologies.

Update 2: Not just the work of renegade creatives, apparently. Adland writes that "Bobby Pawar, JWT India's chief creative officer & managing partner, as well as Vijay SimhaVellanki, creative director at Blue Hive, a WPP unit dedicated to managing the Ford business, have been asked to resign."

F1 racing to make roads safer?

To help launch the United Nations' Decade of Action for Road Safety, the Formula One community is carrying the road safety message to circuits worldwide.



The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's FIA Foundation has established a global safety campaign called "Make Roads Safe" to gather public support to tackle road deaths by:

• Calling on governments and the United Nations to commit to a ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’
• Supporting a $300 million, 10 year, global Action Plan to help improve road safety in developing countries
• Calling on the World Bank and other multilateral and bilateral donors to ensure that at least 10% of their road budgets are dedicated to road safety measures

The international coalition behind the "make Roads Safe" campaign includes Transport Canada and our client and neighbour, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation.

Following the example of Michael Schumacher and Sir Frank Williams, the entire F1 racing community has embraced the safety message. From the Australian Grand Prix onward, all F1 teams will be displaying the "Make Roads Safe" logo and/or tagline.



But will a safe driving message resonate with fans who show up to watch drivers reach speeds of up to up to 360 km per hour? Especially when "street racing" has been identified as a front-burner social issue?

According to FIA, the UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety was a direct result of their awareness-building efforts: "With road deaths set to double in the next 10 years, this landmark resolution will pave the way to help halve the number of deaths over the next decade saving five million lives."

I wonder if NASCAR will be next to embrace a road safety message. Or at least focus on making safer left turns?