I bet somebody got canned over this one. Some rather creative ads for the Ford Figo showed up on the site adsoftheworld.com recently, depicting former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi flashing a peace sign from the front seat of a Figo while three scantily-clad women are tied up and gagged in the trunk. The ad was created by JWT India, Ford’s agency for the Figo in the nation, and it turns out the ad was published on the site without permission by one of the agency’s creative teams. Another ad showed Paris Hilton in the front of the Figo with the Kardashians tied up in the back.

When the ads were first discovered by Business Insider yesterday, it was unclear if Ford had approved them, especially since they were originally published in December, and it’s not actually that uncommon for politically incorrect advertising to come out of India, where Hitler is often used. It was thought, perhaps, that JWT India was trying to make a statement on the role of women in Western society.

WPP Group, which holds JWT, and Ford set Business Insider straight today, however. WPP said it regrets the publishing of the ads since they were both distasteful and unprofessional.

“They were never intended for paid publication and should have never been created, let alone uploaded to the Internet,” the group stated. “This was the result of individuals acting without proper oversight and appropriate actions have been taken within the agency where they work to deal with the situation.”

Ford also issued an apology, stating the incident never should have happened.

“The posters are contrary to the standards of professionalism and within Ford and our agency partners,” the automaker said in an email. “Together with our partners, we are reviewing approval and oversight processes to help ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

Like I said, I bet somebody got canned over this. Especially since the post on AdsoftheWorld actually lists the names of the creative directors, art director, copywriter and illustrator responsible for the ads. Way to leave your mark, boys!

[Images via Ads Of The World]