Ford's clever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ad features phantom model

Capitalizing on the allure of attractive models for automotive advertising is anything but a recent phenomenon. Inventing a supermodel, on the other hand, is one of the more inspired tactics we've stumbled across in recent memory.

According to the marketing gurus at Adweek, Ford has placed a full-page advertisement in the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition that includes a beautiful blue Mustang posing alongside what appears to be an equally beautiful and scantily clad model named Dalena Henriques. A quick Google search on her name, not surprisingly, brings up dalenahenriques.com as the top result.

Here's where things get a bit tricky. It seems Dalena Henriques may not be a real person at all. A visit to her website shows the stunning brunette in pose after pose with the 2013 Mustang, and her face is never fully in the frame. The Mustang, though, is front and center in every single image. Clever, Ford. Very clever.