Memorable commercials are often the ones that make us laugh the hardest either because they are genuinely funny or so absurd that we just can’t help it (see: Life Alert TV ads).

But for some companies and campaigns, funny just isn’t good enough. The effectiveness of their advertising is based on how nauseous or uncomfortable they can make you feel. They call this “shockvertising” in the biz, which Wikipedia defines as promotional material that purposefully pushes the moral envelope in order to create controversy–a practice dependent on the idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Just look at Trend Hunter‘s gallery of the “Top 50 Shockvertisements” spanning print ads, television spots, online video and marketing campaigns. They’ve collected the harshest PSAs, the most sexually-explicit product placements, and some just plain scandalous movie ads.

Take the series of 30 billboards for the Elisha Cuthbert movie Captivity, which depicted kidnapping victims actually being abducted, tortured and murdered (including decapitation). As one witty reader pointed out, it wasn’t gross, it was just “captivating advertising.”

To see the full gallery of “shockvertisements,” click here.

Image: Trend Hunter

Tags: advertising, commercials, shockvertisements, shockvertising, Captivity, Elisha Cuthbert, Trend Hunter

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