Backpedaling: Cellphone Maker Replaces Risque Marketing Hours After Release

The cellphone maker Motorola Mobility unveiled a marketing series to promote its Moto X phone Thursday, but many might not have noticed them in their original form, as they were quickly removed by the company for risque content.

Mashable reported one suggestive ad reading "Is bigger really better? You decide. (16 or 32MB)." It now says "Play Goldilocks and choose the right size for you: 16 or 32GB." Another said "Touch each other, not phones" with" (that's what she said.)" below. This latter line was replaced with a link to a YouTube video.

This is how the ad appeared before some of the text was revised. (Image via Mashable)

This screenshot from Motorola's website shows an ad with the new "Goldilocks" text rather than "Is really bigger better?" (Image: Motorola.com)

But the ads weren't all. Mashable also picked up that Motorola had deleted a tweet with a picture of a phone with a wooden case with the text "yep, we've got wood." The tweet below is what it was replaced with:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/Motorola/status/363058095389306880"]

The Moto X is Motorola Mobility's (a Google-owned company) first smartphone designed completely in-house.

The phone looks much like other smartphones, with a 4.7-inch touch screen. It comes with a no-frills implementation of Google's Android operating system, a contrast to recent phones from Samsung and HTC, which put their own stamp on the software with various add-ons.

The most unusual feature of the Moto X, apart from the customization option, is that it's always listening for its owner's voice. When it hears the phrase, "Ok, Google Now..." followed by a command like "call Bob," it will wake up from standby and execute the command —provided it understands it. Most smartphones offer voice control, but it's usually activated by pressing a button.

The Moto X is going on sale in about a month at all four national wireless carriers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — starting at $200.

Watch Motorola's promotional video for the new Moto X:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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