Eroticism Sells Cars — Just Not in America

A Fiat TV ad alarms the U.S. morality police

Fiat wants to get American and Australian customers excited about their 500 Abarth model using a sexy TV ad. But the Italians didn’t anticipate the morality watchdogs and the safety police.

The Italians have run into unexpected problems in the United States and Australia because of a harmless advertisement for the Fiat Abarth 500. The ad shows a rather nondescript man on the street carrying a paper cup of coffee. He spots an attractive woman in a suggestive black dress that gets his imagination fired up. He approaches her and stares at her plunging neckline. The femme fatale dips her finger into his cappuccino for a bit of frothed milk and it drips into her cleavage; he wants to kiss her.

But instead of a woman, he’s suddenly seen standing in front of a red and black Fiat 500 — an Abarth. He hops in and speeds around the next corner in a sweeping four-wheel drift. And that’s it!

While the Australians object to the final scene of the speeding car — they’re really keen on safe driving down under — the ad is far too sexy for straight-laced Americans, even though the sexy female is only a metaphor for the Fiat Abarth 500 in the mousy man’s fantasies.

The prudish Americans fear that if the ad is aired, it could produce a backlash from religious groups; they might call for a boycott of Fiat and Chrysler group products, which could cause them economic damage. No one wants to risk that, so the ad probably will not air in either country.

Horizont.net reports that the 60-second ad can currently only be viewed as an online video, and it’s still uncertain whether any broadcaster will ever air the Richards Group’s ad. Fans of the Abarth and those attracted to the lascivious may be interested in knowing that the woman in the ad isn’t Italian at all, but Romanian top model Catrinel Menghia.

Of course, anyone interested can find this humorous and well-done ad on YouTube.