From the beginning I decided to think and write positive in this blog. And I usually do. But once in a while I see people misrepresenting design or advertising professions and I feel betrayed. And I get mad.

There is a lot of speculation around the fuck-up Ogilvy London got Ford into with the latest SportKa viral campaign ("Cat" and "Pigeon" commercials). I doubt it was a leak. And if it was how come we don't see the agency being fired for such a serious breach into their NDAs and their contracts at large? How can Ford execs be sure their marketing communication strategy is not going to be "leaked" on the net as well? Lousy liars.

So why is this such a serious fuck-up when this viral campaign got so much free publicity? Well, because we are not talking about a campaign that is not correctly representing the brand values -- Ka brand, that is, let alone Ford brand! -- (avantgarde design, hip urban esthetics, fashionable übercoolness, etc), but a campaign that represents a set of "values" which are harmful for the brand (vicious cruelty or dumb mechanical violence, I can't decide). I use as a reference the Ka brand, but SportKa is a brand extension of Ka, thus it has to share some of it's values.

On Ford's SportKa web page (they have internet on computers now, agency ad boys, don't they?) there is a slogan so big even the most moronic creative director with a 10 seconds attention span can read: "Ford. Designed for living. Engineered to last." Now which are the values Ford products (yes, even SportKa, as long as it has a Ford logo) stand for? Life, anyone? Think, guys, think! -- this is not Quake III Arena you're selling!

So is this plain vanilla corporate stupidity or just another case of creative director trying too hard to land a festival prize financed with client's money? In the end, who cares? -- remember me *not* to buy a Ford. Not a SportKa, but any Ford. Never. Ever. Thank you.