GM Launches 'Off-color' Photo Contest For A Saturn Astra

In a sign of our degrading times, General Motors last week announced an online photo contest surrounding its new car the Saturn Astra.

As some readers might be a tad offended by the obvious off-color reference in this advertising stunt, the potentially sensitive details will come below the fold.

With that in mind, the following is from a July 17 GM press release (h/t Instapundit, picture courtesy Saturn):

Saturn today launched the “Kiss My Astra” national photo contest, offering Saturn fans an opportunity to show just how much they would love to win a new Saturn Astra.

Contestants can kiss their own Astra, a friend’s Astra or drop by any Saturn retailer and kiss their Astra, and then upload a photo of the kiss at www.ImSaturn.com. The contestant with the funniest, most creative photo – as selected by the online Saturn community – will win a 2008 Saturn XR 5-door.

Has to be a joke, right? Well, here's the information from the Saturn website:

Its time to show a little love for the Saturn Astra with ImSaturn’s Kiss My Astra photo contest!

Starting Monday, July 14, upload a photo of yourself kissing an Astra to the special section of ImSaturn.com. In September, an elite group of Astra-ologists will select 20 finalists. Visitors and members of ImSaturn will then vote for the winner.

Full rules are available here. And here is the entry form with pictures of "Recent Astra Kissers."

Finally, here's a picture of GM's Bob Lutz demonstrating how one properly kisses an Astra:

Which reminds me: in the late '70s, Dodge had a car called an Aspen. In one of the first television advertisements, an off-camera announcer asked owners, "How'd you come to pick your Aspen?"

As I recall, this ad campaign didn't last long.