This topic was a bad idea from the start.
lol
I’m serious, Goddammit.
Username – You’d probably get more responses if you included a more detailed OP with some kind of paragraph about what makes an ad disturbing or what is / should be considered too disturbing for TV… or anything that would get some kind of discussion going. I would be interested in at least reading something like that, and I’m sure many other people would, too, but I can’t think of any disturbing ads that I know of, so there’s nothing really for me to post…
There was one ad I saw for the UCC church where it showed a gay couple walking into another church and then getting ejected by a spring like a fighter jet ejection seat.
I guess you’re right, Drunken Father Figure, I suppose I didn’t really think that through.
If you want to know what I think makes an ad disturbing, it would be something that often tries to include or tackle certain themes that people wouldn’t be comfortable discussing, such as death, sex and so on. Usually, they include themes like these just for shock value and they almost never have anything to do the actual product itself.
There are also certain mean-spirited ads that try to alienate entire groups of people, like the UCC church ad that Jirin just mentioned. These ads are just made by people fueled by pure hatred and venom towards certain groups and end up being extremely negative and hurtful in tone and are never well received by anyone.
Embedding isn’t allowed, but this Herman Cain ad is pretty bizarre. You guys have probably seen it, though.
My favorite ads are political slam ads – low production values mixed with complex issues painted in black and white makes pure daytime tv gold!
This is probably one that a lot of you have seen before, but it’s another one of my personal favorites and it somehow manages to make all foreign people look like complete idiots!
Yeesh. There should be a warning put before these ads.
That was insane. The way you described it before made it sound like the ad was advocating intolerance, so I’m really glad that that wasn’t the case here.
Anyways, the end of this ad is…unexpected. And funny in a really dark way.
I almost wish that advertisers nowadays could get away with doing shit like this again.
That sponge cake one is bloody hillarious!
Con-Bot 2.0
One of my favorites things to do online is search on YouTube for controversial ads that didn’t stay on TV for too long. Mainly because most of them are too sick, twisted and flat-out WRONG to be on the air!
What are your favorites? Follow the links below to see some of mine (Warning: NSFW):
Mean-spirited condom ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ
Weird Xbox ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlTBOmNU5P4
TERRIFYING K-Fee ads: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0W-G5Bgcgs
(Damn, I should of posted this in the Off-Topic section. Shit.)