A bunch of highly paid, highly educated people conceived, produced, and released the following ad. Apparently, at no point in the entire process did any of them utter these words: “Hey, is this really such a good idea?”
WARNING: This depicts a suicide attempt.
Get it? Ha ha ha.
Hyundai America is disavowing the ad, saying they had nothing to do with it. I know it’s a big company, but do these guys talk to each other? Nobody zipped out a quick e-mail or anything? “FYI, over here we’re totally running with the suicide angle in the new ad. Gonna be SO SWEET!!”
The ad agency, Innocean Europe, has released this statement:
Innocean Europe deeply regrets any offence or distress that the posting of the viral may have caused.
The intention of the viral was to employ hyperbole to dramatise a product advantage, culminating in a positive outcome. Clearly, we were mistaken, and sincerely apologise.
As a company that espouses strong family values, Innocean would never intentionally set out to cause distress.
The video has been removed from all channels. It will not appear again.
Too late.
But hey, “zero emissions.” It’s “good for the planet.” How are we supposed to believe you want to save the planet when you don’t care about the people on it?
At least they didn’t explode him into a bloody mess…
WARNING: Even worse than the Hyundai ad.
(Hat tip: Jason Howerton)