Microsoft Sick Over Barf Ad

Microsoft apparently didn't expect quite so much blow back from its Internet Explorer 8 ad showing a woman vomiting after seeing her husband's Web browser history, so the company pulled the commercial. Prior to Microsoft's clean up act, the ad was part of a series with actor Dean Cain touting IE8's features.

Many viewers were disturbed by the ad and were left with a bad taste in their mouths. The Redmond-based company, however, told CNET that it listened to customer feedback and took action.

"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," the company said." 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."

The rest of the ad series is still available at the Internet Explorer 8 Better Browser Web site, but the barf ad is conspicuously missing -- presumably so Microsoft can mop up.