Microsoft Promotes IE8 with Barf Ad

Microsoft is promoting its Internet Explorer 8 Web browser with a series of new ads featuring actor Dean Cain, a series of acronyms, and a woman that vomits after seeing her husband's Web browser history.

Each of the ads touts features in Internet Explorer 8 -- many of which have been available in competing applications like Safari and Firefox for some time -- like private browsing and contextual menus.

While Microsoft may be trying to make its ads seem hip and enticing, it looks like the company still needs to watch other ad campaigns a little closer for some pointers. The ads, complete with vomit, are available at the YouTube Web site -- whether you like it or not.