Spanish Oddities
13,000 cucumbers for a sports car
By h.b.
Apr 30, 2008 - 2:41 PM

Being quick off the mark can bear fruit, or in this case cucumbers.
Alberto Villalobos from Málaga has purchased a Fiat Grande Punto car with 13,000 cucumbers, after the Italian firm challenged Spanish visitors to assemble the 13,000 cucumbers or turkeys in 24 hours to win a car.

Alberto got onto the phone and started to call companies, many of them in El Ejido, the famous agricultural zone of Almería. Most of the people he called thought he was joking, not least because cucumbers are not in season, but on Tuesday morning he rolled up in his van, loaded with the 13,000 cucumbers at the Fiat dealership in Málaga.

Fiat’s marketing director in Spain, Renato del Bino, said the objective of the campaign was to connect with ‘a younger public’.

The idea is obviously a success for the car firm which has gained free publicity from the challenge, and it has proved a profitable experience for Alberto – he paid only 1,800 € for the cucumbers.