MSFT: Feedback for the Vomit Ad Was Quite Good
Apparently a lot of the feedback Microsoft got about the most recent IE8 ad was actually pretty positive.
Earlier in the week we wrote about Microsoft’s latest Internet Explorer 8 TV commercial, which we believed was in bad taste and should never have made it past the drawing board of Microsoft’s marketing department. It involved a women throwing up three times in under a minute -- once on the floor and twice on her husband (who had fallen in the original pool of puke and wasn’t standing up for who knows what reason). Originally meant to highlight the advantages of private browsing, most people just thought it was gross, prompting Microsoft to pull the ad.
However, instead of just removing the video and leaving at that, a Microsoft spokesman has said that much of the feedback about the ad was positive. The Redmond company told CNET that the reason they removed the video from the IE8 YouTube channel was because a few people found it disturbing but mostly, people liked it.
"We make a point of listening to our customers," said a Microsoft representative. "We created the OMGIGP video as a tongue-in-cheek look at the InPrivate Browsing feature of Internet Explorer 8, using the same irreverent humor that our customers told us they liked about other components of the Internet Explorer 8 marketing campaign. While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it."
Do you think Microsoft was right to remove the ad? Let us know in the comments below! For any curious commenters who have no idea what we’re talking about, the commercial is still available here. If you’re not into seeing women throw up multiple times in under a minute don’t watch it.
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People need to grow up.
In all honesty, Microsoft shouldn't have gone as far as they did with that commercial - one vomit was OK, but the slapstick nature of 3 shouldn't be seen outside of a 3rd rate, childish Hollywood "dude" movie. They knew such content was going to cause some grief with a mainstream audience so they could've saved a lot of hassle by toning it down or not doing it at all.
That being said, just because a few people complained shouldn't be a reason to pull the ad - taking offence at something is fine, but if's not like being offended is a terminal illness so just chill out and toughen up! Offence is such a subjective thing you're never going to please everybody, and there will always be somebody who's offended by something - if you didn't do something because you might cause somebody offence then NOTHING would EVER get done.
If a third or higher of the ad's feedback was negative then yes it's clearly touching a mainstream nerve so pull it, but it you only get a handful of complaints then frankly fuck them and their tiny little minds until they learn to grow up and toughen up.
I liked it.
Many companies these days pull something if they get up to 100 complaints. But, the audience could be in the millions. Why? Because they're scared of the minority.
Stupid minority.
it was probably the browser tht made her throw up, now the norp.....
Bizarrely a lot of folks say the funniest bit in Team America is the bit where the lead 'puppet' vomits about 8 times. Seems you can either have too much or too little vomit.
Who would have thought?
The Team America scene was very well done. The Microsoft ad was unfunny and not very good, but I don't see why people would find it offensive or care one way or the other.
I haven't seen the advert so I'll reserve judgement on the vomiting, but I have noticed that companies are scared of offending small numbers of people.
The problem is made worse by the fact that people are less likely to give feedback if they liked something.
They removed it because people liked it? Coming from Microsoft, that explains a lot.
The ad seems accurate to me, IE makes me want to puke.
Seems like an over reaction on their part, but it is their ad and they can pull it if they want.
Actually, the "IE makes me want to puke" jokes might be the real reason they puled the ad.