Fiat paints a platoon of bodies into a 500 Abarth Cabrio

This ad for the new Fiat 500 Abarth Cabrio, is a photograph of a real event. The car above is actually a baker's dozen of women painted by a renowned body artist and carefully positioned to evoke the sexy Italian microcar. Even knowing what you're looking at, you need a triple-take to fully comprehend it. But does it make you want to buy a Fiat?

The body artist assigned the daunting task of painting a platoon of models into a Fiat 500 is Craig Tracy. Since the job required much flexibility, Tracy and team recruited circus performers, artists and contortionists, capable of bending and holding unfathomable poses. An additional 30 to 40 people worked behind the scenes mapping and organizing the women's positions prior to the shoot taking place.

It's a project that Dean Oram, art director at advertising firm The Richards Group, initially proposed to Fiat without fully knowing how to accomplish it. And when Fiat loved the idea, the reality of delivering on the promise proved daunting. With the help of a top photographer and a world-renowned body painter, however, the agency felt confident the ad would be a success. But even Tracy had his doubts: "Initially, the concept for this project blew my mind, and I knew how overwhelming the task could be."

The Richards Group is the same agency responsible for the sexy Fiat 500 Abarth ad, where a man becomes entranced by a seductive Italian women before she turns into an Abarth as he goes in for the kiss. Given strong sales of the Abarths, Fiat has hewed to the steamy approach for its new model, the 500L, where it reimagined Paul Revere's ride as a Harlequin-meets-Maxim fantasy of Italian invasion.

This ad will debut in print in the "Body Issue" of ESPN the Magazine, sporting the clever tagline "Made of pure muscle." And while it seems entirely unique, as Mashable points out the Government of South Australia once created a similar ad for a road safety campaign. Regardless, it's an ingenious concept — although one that works much better for Fiat than, say, Ram pickups.

Photo: Fiat