Ford Celebrates Women’s History Month with Tongue-in-Cheek Explorer “Men’s Only Edition”

• This is a video advertising a supposed new edition of the Explorer devoid of all features created by women.

• These inventions include windshield wipers, turn signals, GPS, Wi-Fi, and rear-view mirrors.

• The automaker also highlighted women’s contributions to its business and its vehicles over the years.

Ford posted a new video on its Youtube channel which appears to be a normal advertisement for a special edition of the Explorer at first, but is actually a tribute to women.

March is Women’s history month and for the occasion, Ford decided to celebrate the achievements of women in the automotive industry.

To do so, the automaker made a spoof commercial for the Explorer “ Men’s Only Edition, which is devoid of any feature developed or popularized by women.

As such, the narrator says this fictitious version of the SUV is devoid of windshield wipers, heaters, turn signals, rear-view mirrors, and GPS, ending by asking “Whose great idea was that?”.

The video then links to a dedicated website where Ford highlights the women who created or pioneered some of these technologies, such as:

• Florence Lawrence, an actress who invented brake lamps and turn signals back in 1914 in order to improve road safety in increasingly crowded cities.
• Dorothy Levitt, an engineer and the first British female race car driver who invented rear-view mirrors in order to see her opponents behind.
• Gladys West, a Mathematician who developed the basis of the modern-day GPS while working for the U.S. Military in the 60s and 70s.
• Hedy Lamarr, a screen actress who developed a new communication system to help the allies during WWII. This technology later set the groundwork for Wi-Fi and GPS.
• Dorothée Pullinger, a race car driver, businesswoman, and the first female automotive engineer, who led a 7,000-female workforce producing airplane wings during WWI and then created Galloway Motors, a company which made the first and only cars designed specifically for women, with higher seats, smaller steering wheels, and rear-view mirrors.

Ford also continues by highlighting 8 women who currently hold influential positions within the company, such as:

• Jennifer Brace, Trends and Futuring Manager
• Jackie DiMarco, Program Director for F-Series and Commercial Trucks
• Cynthia Flanigan, Chief Engineer for Hardware Integration
• Nicole Herrera, Computer Aided Engineering and Vibration Testing Engineer
• Julia Matos, Mustang Mach-E Design and Release Engineer
• Usha Raghavachari, Innovation Lab Director in London, Melbourne, and Sao Paulo
• Poliana Rocha, Design and Release Engineer
• Lucretia Williams, Strategist and Planning Expert

In addition, the Ford Heritage Vault put together a small display that showcases some of the models from the company’s history which were designed or engineered by women, such as the 1975 Granada, the 1993 Probe, the 1994 Mustang, the 1999 Windstar, the 1999 Lincoln Navigator, and the 2011 Edge.