Flashback Series: 1971 Ford Pinto Advertising

my grandmother drove a ford pinto – quite possibly the ugliest car ever made. but any loss of cool points i suffered while being carted around in this beast pales in comparison to how ford must have felt when they first launched in the brazilian market. as it turns out, pinto is brazilian slang for tiny male genitals! look it up, i’m not busting balls here (no pun intended). so how did ford reverse this embarrassment? they renamed the line corcel – which translates into horse. click on for subsequent innuendos in the pinto advertising.

click to enlarge

so what kind of advertising copy did ford use in enticing customers with the pinto – a.k.a. tiny male genitals?

“it’ll give you a nice, satisfied feeling.”

“…one sixth as many lubes.”

“designed to last longer. it has strong, beefy parts…”