Ford Motor Company released an ad in India which included a drawing of three women in the cargo bay of a Ford Figo tied up and gagged. This when a Swiss tourist had recently been gang raped in India, four months after an Indian woman died due to injuries from a gang rape, and news reports were that a woman is raped in India every 21 minutes on average.
After the ad appeared on a website called Ads of the World, Ford and its agency WPP apologized. As to what they were thinking, it appears the ad was intended to humorously point out the large cargo capacity of the Figo. The humor angle came from the driver of the car being Paris Hilton in caricature and the kidnap victims in the back being the three Kardashian sisters. Another ad in the series depicted auto racing champ Michael Schumacher driving the car and the three victims his long-time Formula One track rivals.
WPP said the ads, “were distasteful and contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency.” According to TheDetroitBureau.com, the WPP statement also implied the ads were supposed to be limited to in-house use and the paid publication of them was an error.
Such an implication shows a continued insensitivity to the offensiveness of the ads, whether in-house or widely published.
Compare this to what happened a couple of years ago when baked goods company Entenmann’s tweeted, “Who's #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?!” This happened on the day that endless tweets of outrage were circulating about the acquittal of Casey Anthony on charges she had killed her 2½-year-old daughter.
Entenmann’s soon deleted the tweet and then issued a new tweet: “Our #notguilty tweet was insensitive, albeit completely unintentional. We are sincerely sorry.”
Likeable Media did the original post. They were tracking the #notguilty tag as a trending topic, so hopped on board with its use, but say they failed to first investigate why the tag was suddenly so popular.
Over the next few days, the “insensitive” apology tweet was retweeted about 100 times and the Entenmann tweet roster garnered countless thank you responses by those who said they understood.
In conducting your retailing business, you’re likely to avoid those major gaffes. Still, occasional unintended minor thoughtlessness is almost inevitable. When it happens, be careful in publically sharing your thoughts of explanation.
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