X Box - Champagne (Banned)

The ad: It begins in a delivery room, where a screaming mom is delivering a screaming baby. The baby literally rockets out of her body and through a window, still screaming. The baby is shown hurtling through the stratosphere at a terrific speed. As it zooms across the skies, it slowly transforms into a little boy. Soon he begins screaming again, eyes wide with fear, as he arcs across the skies. He continues to age—into a young man, an adult. (He's still naked, so his hands find their way to a television-friendly position.) He screams and screams. He loses his hair; wrinkles develop, and his teeth yellow. He's old. His scream fades to a croaking groan. Finally, he slams into a grave in a leaf-strewn cemetery. The image dissolves to black and the following words appear in sequence: "Life Is Short." "Play More." "Xbox."

The controversy: This rather startling ad did at least part of what it was intended to do, which was get attention. According to the BBC, 136 complaints about it were registered with the United Kingdom's Independent Television Commission. Twenty of these viewers were bothered because they'd recently lost a loved one; another was a pregnant woman. Most of the rest were simply offended. The spot was promptly pulled. The ITC commented, "The final scene of a body smashing into its grave was unnecessary and had caused considerable distress to many viewers."

The message: I happen to think this ad is fantastic, but probably not for the reasons that Xbox-maker Microsoft (which also owns Slate) intended. Sure, the spot follows the overworn path toward "edginess," and sure, like most others that resort to this tactic it ends up crossing over to crass. But I think those British viewers are wrong (and silly) to be offended because this ad is beyond crass. It's so crass it's profound.
Kirk