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Preston Gralla's picture
Preston Gralla

Seeing Through Windows

Microsoft's porn-and-puke ad: Is this thing for real?

Microsoft has launched a new ad campaign for Internet Explorer that is either clever and slyly humorous, or obnoxious and snarky, depending on your point of view. But in one ad promoting IE 8's so-called porn mode, the software giant has crossed the line of bad taste --- by about three miles.

The ads feature onetime Superman actor Dean Cain as a parody of a smarmy pitchman, as well as variety of people using Internet Explorer 8 to solve their computing problems --- such as the desperate need to share too-cute Internet pictures of cats with other people. They're mildly amusing in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, and are yet another example of Microsoft trying to change its image of a stodgy software company. The one below is my favorite.


But one ad that promotes IE 8's porn mode doesn't merely cross the line of bad taste --- it obliterates it. In it, a squeaky-clean young married couple sit at a kitchen table, and when the husband gets up to leave, the wife asks if she can use his laptop. She does, and obviously sees some kind of grotesque porn on the screen, and begins vomiting, first on the floor, and then on her husband.

I'm not making this up. If you don't believe me, check out the ad, below. (If you're squeamish, consider yourself warned.)


What was Microsoft thinking when it created this ad? Clearly, it wasn't. Porn and puke aren't the best way to burnish your company's image.

What People Are Saying

Not that bad, cmon

I have no idea how people can see this as bad taste or even all that offensive.
People have become so prudish, it's unreal. Nudity isn't offensive, it's natural.
We all are naked. Vomiting believe it or not is a natural bodily function. Everyone has done it, for many different reasons. This woman was so offended by the porn that she puked (wuss probably closes her eyes in front of a mirror).
Everyone needs to be more mature and open minded, the ad was funny.

What makes you think it was just nudity?

Maybe it was Two Girls One Cup.

BLAHH!!!

funny, Apple has had private browsing on Safari since it was in ver. 3 which came out 4 or 5 years ago. :)

Steve Balmer checked his brain at the door

Steve Balmer checked his brain at the door when he became CEO of Microsoft. That ad was both tasteless and brainless. Perhaps Microsoft checked their brain at the door when they promoted Balmer from janitor to CEO.

Bad taste?

I actually found the ad rather humorous, though I admit that it was in bad taste. It reminded me of the second to last scene of Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life." Yeah, a bit gross (okay, that scene was a lot gross) but this scene wasn't all that bad, and it did serve to highlight a new feature of their upcoming browser.

There was absolutely no indication that what was being viewed on the laptop was porn. I am death on porn, but try as I might, I could find no hint of it in the advert, so try again, Mr. Gralla.

porn-and-puke ad: Is this thing for real?

Great stuff! It's just the way I feel when I read most of the comments posted on IT blogs. Come to think of it, it's how I feel when I read many IT blogs. It's the self-righteousness that gets me.

I almost always read your commentary, Preston, unless it's on a topic that doesn't interest me. This kind of judgmental remark, however, suggests that you don't live in the world of American diversity even though I know you do.

And don't forget that Microsoft is a business, not a social service. That means that it's run by capitalists. That means that most of the people there in management are probably Republicans, and we know that members of the GOP are famous for their refined and subtle senses of humor. Okay, only William F. Buckley's public persona was. And because these ads actually appear on American TV, unlike Janice Jackson's pierced right nipple, disdained and considered obscene by the FCC, there must be nothing wrong with them.

I'm surprised that you find bad taste so offensive. It's always been around; it will will always be around. Just like prostitution and corrupt politicians (sorry for the redundancy there).

"probably Republicans?" I

"probably Republicans?" I guess that's why a larger percentage of "high tech" companies' employees give to Democratic candidates.

ROTFLMAO

Probably Republicans. A political take on a puking ad.

I'm going to push the envelope here further and say Hitler would have loved these commercials! That's right, a mention of NAZIs!

Most are what?

"That means that most of the people there in management are probably Republicans, "

That explains why Microsoft and its execs give vastly more money to Democrats than Republicans. Remember, you're talking about a company located on the Left Coast.

Hmm... looks like it's been

Hmm... looks like it's been removed...