Honda Fit -- tiki (?) imagery in marketing of car

This ad for Honda's compact car, the "Fit," draws very heavily and obviously on tiki imagery:

http://automobiles.honda.com/fit/

Edited to change title, adding "(?)"

[ Edited by: Thomas 2007-10-19 12:04 ]

car names these days suck.

fit
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fitt strife
Date: circa 1541
1 a: a sudden violent attack of a disease (as epilepsy) especially when marked by convulsions or unconsciousness : paroxysm b: a sudden but transient attack of a physical disturbance
2: a sudden burst or flurry (as of activity)
3: an emotional reaction (as in anger or frustration)
— by fits or by fits and starts or in fits and starts : in an impulsive and irregular manner

My brother got the Fit. It is a cool little car, I don't know how Tiki it is?

That's actually a stylized Samurai image. Looks like the front seal of an ancient Japanese helmet. But not tiki.

'Tiki' is in the eye of the drunken beholder !!!!

I stared at my screen for a few minutes thinking about alternate wording, like "tiki(?)" or "suggestive of tiki," etc., but decided to just let it fly.

I'll bet if a sampling of the target audience (basically, Americans, I assume) were polled and asked to give a one-word definition of that image, the most common word would be "tiki." And I'm sure that the makers of the ad knew this.

**
if a sampling ... were polled and asked to give a one-word definition ... the most common word would be "tiki" ...
**

None of which is meant as a disputation of your point. I think you're spot-on in terms of derivation, which in fact makes me a bit embarrassed about having used words like "obvious" and "overt" in the first place. It's those posts one makes right before bed that tend to need modifying the next morning.

Nah, no sweat, man...I could see where it could be mistaken. Aloha...BK