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A Ford employee and two high-ranking advertising agency executives in India were fired for their involvement in the creation of an advertising poster in India showing former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a Ford Figo and grinning at young women bound and gagged in the back.

JWT India is a unit of global advertising agency WPP. The posters were created as entries in an advertising contest and were never approved by Ford for a public campaign or intended for use beyond the competition, Ford has said.

JWT India Managing Partner Bobby Pawar and Vijay Simha Vellanki, creative director of Blue Hive, the WPP unit dedicated to Ford, were asked to leave for their lack of judgment. An unnamed Ford of India employee who saw the ad and signed off on it for use in the contest "no longer works for Ford," Jim Farley, Ford head of global marketing, told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday.

The disclosure comes after further digging by Farley into the incident and a day after he told reporters in New York that it appeared to be an independent act by agency employees without Ford involvement or sanctions, he said.

The poster images were discovered last week on a third-party website used by agencies to solicit critical feedback to ideas and works in progress.

Abhorrence over the pictures is said to be felt from the top down, including by Ford CEO Alan Mulally and WPP leadership, said a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

The person, briefed on the situation, said the poster images may have focused on Italy because of government wrangling over justice for two Indian fishermen shot by Italian marines last year. The person said that while most of the world was stunned by the graphic nature of the pictures, the poster images were seen as cutting-edge and witty by some in India, including in advertising circles.

The advertising culture in India is unique and pushing creativity into the absurd is commonplace among competitive agencies, the person said, emphasizing that cultural differences do not absolve executives working for a global agency and representing a global client who should recognize and understand global sensitivities. That is why top executives were asked to leave as opposed to illustrators following orders, the person said.

Pawar, one of the executives let go, said in a Facebook posting Wednesday, "My friends, I am touched by your concern and affection. I am the luckiest man in the world, despite what the tabloids might say."

The ads were posted on the website a week after India's Parliament passed strict anti-rape laws as the country grapples with violence against women.

Ford, in its latest statement on the incident, said it never should have happened. "The posters are contrary to our values and everything we believe in at Ford. We sincerely apologize that they ever were created."

"Together with WPP, we are reviewing our processes and increasing our education efforts to help ensure nothing like this ever happens again."

The agency also called the posters "distasteful and contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency at JWT."

"These were never intended for paid publication and should never have been created, let alone uploaded to the Internet. These posters were created by individuals within the agency and did not go through the normal review and oversight process," the agency said, resulting in the firing of some employees.

Farley said Ford remains committed to its advertising strategy in India and has no plans to sever ties with JWT.

"The most important thing for us," Farley said, "is to make sure this never happens again and that the people responsible are not part of the Ford family in any way."

Contact Alisa Priddle: 313-222-5394 or Mark Phelan and Brent Snavely contributed.

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