We need to address a difficult issue.

It’s never easy to say sorry, but whenever your actions cause offense (however unintended), it’s the right thing to do.

In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have included two body-painted models at our stand during the Digital Dealer Conference – but we did not expect it to be a controversial decision.

So we’d like to apologize to you, and to anyone – especially any women – who felt offended by what was meant to be nothing more than a fun and visually arresting artistic installation.

As a leading-edge automotive advertising agency, it’s our job to push the envelope in terms of how we communicate our messages.

It’s clear that there are those who feel we pushed it too far.

We would like to state, however, that the body painter is a well-known and respected female artist, and that once the models had been fully painted on Day 1, both the artist and the models were free to go home, having been paid through the end of the conference.

We understand that, for some people, this will be little consolation – so as a token of our good faith, we will be making a donation to the Automotive Women’s Alliance Foundation, which offers scholarships to women working in, or about to enter, the automotive industry.

We hope that this goes some way to demonstrate our commitment to equality and the fair treatment of everybody.

Yours Sincerely,