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- The (thankfully never used) slogan for Panasonic: "From the wonderful folks who brought you Pearl Harbor." It was later re-purposed as advertiser Jerry Della Famina's book title. note
- This
hidden camera mailbox prank seems like an innocent enough prank, (until the guns get pulled out.) - This billboard,◊ which is a reference to the Jonestown Massacre.
- "No Pressure" featured, among other things, kids being blown up for not signing on to 10:10's carbon emissions reduction program as a Crosses the Line Twice joke. If you don't feel like watching, it's not some kind of cute, funny explosion effect; it's very bloody and identifiable bits of human tissue can be seen coating the bystanders in this ad. The reaction to this ad was negative and it was pulled very quickly when it became apparent that people were turning against the 10:10 campaign as a result of it.
- The Discovery Channel 2013 Shark Week promo is a staged live newscast of "Snuffy the Seal" being returned to the ocean, which suddenly turns tragic when a great white shark leaps out of the water and snuffs out Snuffy. (A Scenery Censor is used to avoid gorn.) Watch here. Their 2014 Shark Week Promo shows that Snuffy is safe.
- In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a charity PSA ran on television featuring a George W. Bush impersonator addressing the nation from the Oval Office... while disguised as a dolphin.
- The whole point of Dumb Ways to Die is to get the audience to laugh at, but be aware of, all the stupid ways you can die around trains.
- This banned Home Away ad that featured a "test baby" going splat against a window. Dead Baby Comedy indeed.
- Around 1990 M&M's commercials started to take this turn; the first was probably the one where Red and Yellow falsely accused B. B. King of eating the two blue ones, but it got worse. Several actual humans did want to eat them, and many play with them a little before doing so. Not that they're any better, as some commercials have them kidnapping humans and each other, and in one case, laughing at candy bar who melts in the sun. They're also not averse to eating non-sentient M&Ms themselves, which at least one guy in one commercial called them out on.
- 2019, however, took things to the next level, when they actually did go as far as to eat a sentient M&M’s spokescandy, leaving only its arms and legs. What cements it, however, is what immediately follows the shocking revelation:
- 2019, however, took things to the next level, when they actually did go as far as to eat a sentient M&M’s spokescandy
- This commercial starts off innocent with cutesy art and a cutesy theme song, very much a homage to another kids cartoon about dragons. Then CG dragons come in and burn EVERYTHING as the cartoon dragons and kids scream and flee in terror. For bonus points, the cutesy theme song keeps playing in the background. Ladies and Gentlemen, War Dragons. Surprisingly, there's no reports that Sesame Workshop and/or Sony threatened legal action against Pocket Gems for this ad.
- The notorious "Life is Short" commercial for X-Box, which was banned for being a little too black. (Of course, given how long the original X-Box lasted, many fans today find the analogy kind of funny.)
- Jim Henson's famous ads for Wilkins Coffee feature the frog-like Wilkins injuring or outright murdering another puppet named Wontkins in some over-the-top fashion just because the latter didn't like Wilkins Coffee.
- Many current Sprint Mobile commercials endulge in this trope to do Take Thats against their competitors. One ad has a man faking his own death by pushing his car off the cliff (in front of his kids) to get out of his Verizon contract.
- This Asics ad has two men encounter a lion in Africa. One man puts on his Asics running shoes, the other asks him if he thinks he's faster than a lion. The response? "No. But I'm faster than you." Then the camera focuses on the second man's horrified face, before cutting to a wide shot of the two men running with the lion catching up to the second man.
- Hyundai's 2012 Super Bowl ad had their new Veloster Turbo race a cheetah. When the car outruns the cheetah immediately, the cheetah turns on its trainer and chases him instead. It's even shown catching up with and pouncing on him (though that's partly hidden by some tall grass). Watch here.
