Samsung pulled an ad that compared a laptop to a puppy because "it was clearly upsetting people," a rep from Samsung's ad agency says.
The company introduced the ad called "Don't Give Up on Puppy Love!" early Monday. The ad. which promoted Samsung's Solid State Drives, showed consumers getting fed up with their PCs and then physically attacking them. Via animation, Samsung superimposed a big-eyed face that looked like a puppy onto the PCs. The juxtaposition was disturbing for some, who charged that the ad was condoning animal abuse. (For those curious about the ad, it was still available here at this writing.)
"I'm actually a bit emotionally disturbed after viewing the early scenes of the ad," wrote one. "I'm an animal lover and have a number of pets at home and this brings up a very strong emotional reaction from me." Another added, "Samsung's ad agency should quit smoking this bad stuff. Seriously, WTF."
A rep for the ad agency behind the effort, The Viral Factory, says that, despite some speculation, the ad was commissioned by Samsung and was up on one of the company's official YouTube channels. The Viral Factory's last ad for Samsung's SSDs -- which featured the Overly Attached Girlfriend meme -- went over better, racking up more than 3 million views so far on YouTube.
Samsung reps could not be reached for comment on the latest ad.
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