Thanks for the update, natee! I was pretty surprised an organization like the WWF would 'go there'..good to know they really didn't. What a PR nightmare they're left with though.

Wow I was just reading about this and watching the video. I am speechless at the thoughtlessness of this type of advertisement.

Well, someone has to say it:

The point of an advertisement is to get attention for a particular product or cause.

This advertisement gained attention far outside of its intended audience, and thus can only be called a great success.

Also, they kind of have a point.

As any ad man would say, it's only a "great success" if an advertisement produces support for the company or the cause. While I agree that they do have a valid point, such a straight faced slap in the face is not only d**kish, but also counter productive.

I was appalled. I witnessed the second plane approaching the WTC from my office window. I saw it bank and turn, crash into the south side of the tower and exit from the east.

Whoever came up with this idea should be....argggg. I don't know but they should not be allowed to even come up with an outrageous idea like that. Their supervisor should be fired for letting them execute it.

Posted and discussed here

OMG they are sooooo right! I mean all this time, we never knew, NATURE is a terrorist!

Kill it, Bush!

Brazilians should be embarrassed exploiting the emotions surrounding a tragic act of terrorism to bring attention to an act of nature. What do they expect? America to rush to Brazil and try to stop.... TSUNAMIS!?!?!?

Despicable.

"Also, they kind of have a point."

What? What point? The point that terrorism is somehow relevant to natural disasters? They have no point. It's pure unadulterated exploitation.

The thing is, outside US it's going to be more about 'yeah, they have a point' and less about 'how horrible!'. So I'd say the ad has served its purpose.

Okay, I don't care if you downvote me for this, but I really don't think this ad was very offensive. The whole idea was to say that while 9/11 was "one of the worst tragedies in the history of humanity", the 2005 tsunami was far more devastating. In spite of the tsunami having cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives- people with families who loved and depended on them- we treat the tsunami as if it were just some small occurrence instead of giving its victims the respect they deserve. Frankly, I think it's rather selfish to act as if there haven't been any disasters worse than 9/11. Certainly, 9/11 was a terrible catastrophe which took the lives of thousands, but the tsunami was much worse.

Most Americans aren't ready to acknowledge that yet, and probably never will be. The ad is quite poorly timed.

(edit: grammar)

you're both right... we should be equally upset about a man that dies from a heart attack as a man that is murdered in cold blood.

Because... you know.. natural occurrences are no different than violent acts of murder.