Rejected Xbox 360 ad

Yeah, it's a shame an actual clever ad like this won't see any air time.  I've been reading a lot of gripes about this being a ripped off idea, but I don't see how "playing guns" is original at all anyway -- everyone has done it at some point no? It's the actual execution of the ad that is impressive.  

Seriously, how did this spot make it to actually being completed? I guess I could see this running on cable, but there's no freaking way this would get on network TV. 

I was surprised this spot made it as far as production without getting the axe by a more savvy creative director. The agency Microsoft hired must have an amazing account department since they got approval to shoot it.

The ad is offensive in our current context. Personally, I think people are too thin-skinned about these things, but after events like Columbine (with a furor over a connection between video game violence and that of real life) and terrorism, I can understand why a free for all "shootout" like this commerical depicts could anger people.

One of my old college professors (a longtime CD at Leo Burnett) told me about an gravy ad he saw that got a lot of complaints. Apparently some of these people saw the image of gravy pouring onto mashed potatoes as "thinly-veiled sexual innuendo".

Other than the obvious flaw with the concept of the ad, I liked it much more than the "jump-rope" or the "water balloon fight" spots in the 360 campaign.