
Most Controversial Ads of 2009: Consumer Reactions
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Here’s our list of advertisements infuriated consumers this year. Often creative. Always crazy.








![A Brazillian ad campaign for the charity WWF (not the WWF you’re thinking of; it’s the World Wildlife Fund) went horribly wrong when they decided to reference the September 11th attacks. The ad was supposed to promote awareness for the tsunami that pummeled Indonesia in 2004. According to one description of the ad, “"We see two airplanes blowing up the WTC's [World Trade Centre's] twin towers ... We see hundreds of airplanes invading the screen. Before they hit the buildings ... lettering reminds us that the tsunami killed 100 times more people." It’s still unclear whether the ad actually aired on television, but it is available online. The controversy surrounding the ad forced the WWF to distance itself from it and eventually to condemn the ad all together.](https://www.thestreet.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY4NjIzNzM0MTczODA0MTY3/busing-911-for-publicity-too-soonb.jpg)
The Worst Ads of 2009
We are bombarded with advertisements every day, across every medium, but once in a while, an ad makes us stop and take notice. Often times though, it’s for the wrong reason. Do controversial ads entice consumers or incite them? And is the latter necessarily counterproductive to making a sale? We’ve written about the success of shock marketing before, and there’s definitely something to it. But ironically, many of the most controversial ads attempt to promote good causes, only to have the ads overshadow the cause in the public eye. Some countries like Canada have actually gone so far as to try and ban controversial ads, but obviously, this runs counter to our most valued principle of free speech. Here are eight of the most controversial ad campaigns so far from 2009. The question to ask yourself when looking at these is do these ads make you interested in or angry at these products? Photo Credit: islandjoe