If you didn't click on the video, let me recap. The ad begins with a child being born, the child shoots through the window and then ages rapidly, before crashing into a grave. The tagline was: 'Life is short, play more'.
It attracted 136 complaints in total from viewers that found the ad 'offensive, shocking and in bad taste'.
Interestingly, it wasn't the violence of birth, or even the rapid ageing, that distressed viewers the most. 20 of the complaints came from recently bereaved people, who found the theme of death upsetting.
Microsoft defended its position, insisting the ad was supposed to be a positive statement about life. Yet the ITC dismissed that, and said that the man's screams suggested a 'traumatic experience' which, coupled with the 'life is short' tagline, 'made the final scene more shocking'.
ITC even issued a warning to the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre, whose job it was to approve the ads, reminding them that advertisements involving death - which could cause upset - cannot be avoided in a way that a TV programme on the subject can. Viewers are able to simply avoid watching a show containing murder or violence, as they usually feature appropriate warnings, but advertisements do not.
