Hyundai suicide by car ad idea, officially older than dirt (one more!)

Seriously? Again?

At this point, it feels like I could make a spin-off site dedicated to posting only suicide by car ad ideas, because yes folks we've found one more.

This idea practically owns the suicide tag on adland.

Our first Badlander was when Audi A5 suicide ad (spec job), was shown side by side with Brian Baderman's Citroen suicide.
While most comments agreed then that the Audi one was too dark and therfore less funny, the web didn't care and the Audi a5 suicide ad spread like wildfire (much to Audi's dismay! They want nothing to do with this spec job).

Then Hyundai joined in the Badland hall of shame, and earlier today a Nissan ad from 1997 joined the group being (so far) the oldest executed idea.

We're not done yet though, there's more!

From Rutger Hauer's film camp where the ad has to go from script to finished spec film in only one day, there's a 2009 version of this idea for Smart car.

The Hyundai ad has been pulled from TV, after a copywriter expressed how awful it was to see that ad when her father had committed suicide in this way.

Hyundai have apologized, and added the usual "we didn't approve of this ad" etc. Because ad agencies run off and spend lots of money and time on ideas the client never approved of all the time, apparently. 

Having newspapers take note of the ad being pulled ensures that hundreds youtube postings of this ad will made, all tagged "banned ad", even though it technically isn't.
 

Hyundai - Pipe job

Smart Car Suicide proof

Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologizes for the offensive viral ad. The ad was created by an affiliate advertising agency, Innocean Europe, without Hyundai’s request or approval. It runs counter to our values as a company and as members of the community. We are very sorry for any offence or distress the video caused. More to the point, Hyundai apologizes to those who have been personally impacted by the tragedy.
 

The Mirror also points out that the Hyundai ad was chosen by the Guardian's Jason Stone in the "best ads of the week" list.

The ad, produced by ad agency Innocean, was described by the Guardian’s Jason Stone as ‘risky’ in an article called ‘best adverts of the week’.

Stone wrote: “In order to demonstrate the benign nature of the advertised vehicle's emissions, we find out what happens when a desperate man feeds his exhaust pipe into the car in a bid to end his life. "Mind you, as he trudges back to his house to continue his meaningless existence, it doesn't seem likely that the car has saved his life for very long – unless, of course, his suicide attempt was prompted by despair about global warming.”
The Guardian has since removed its comment.