Ford’s PR team worked all weekend on ad crisis
After disturbing—not to mention unsanctioned—mockup ads appeared online, the PR pros in Ford’s Asia Pacific division snapped into action on a Saturday morning.
At least you weren’t handling a fast-moving PR crisis all weekend.
That was the case for Ford Motor Co.’s public relations team as it crafted a response to a disturbing mockup print ad for its Figo model that staffers at an unaffiliated agency had posted to the Internet.
“We were working throughout the course of the weekend,” Scott Monty, Ford’s global head of social media, told PR Daily. “It was a global coordinated response led out of our Asia Pacific office.”
The ads depict various women bound and gagged in the trunk of a Figo. For instance, one shows former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi driving the car with three women tied up in the trunk. The tagline says, “Leave your worries behind with Figo’s extra-large boot.” Another features Paris Hilton at the wheel, with the three Kardashian sisters in the trunk. Ford’s logo is emblazoned across both ads.
You can see the ads here.
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