Now this is a commercial that is just plain nasty. Not only does it not show the controller (one of the only things you're required to do in an advert for an accessory), but it manages to either make no sense or be a very, very perverted double entendre. Either way, this commercial is just terrible, one of the worst we've seen so far. I just can't imagine anybody being so impressed by this picture to run out to the store and buy it, even if they are fans of the games in question.

At first glance it looks like a piece of tissue draped over a very phallic-shaped device. With lightning striking in the background, the words read "Mortal Kombat II and Super Street Fighter II are Coming ..." If this is not a metaphor for masturbation I don't know what is! Otherwise what is that tissue for? And why the lightning? It says that this control is the only device that will "prepare you for the challenge that lies ahead." Is that a weird fetish thing I don't understand? And how good could the control really be if the advertisers want to cover it up with tissue paper? Is this what they were going for, or am I reading entirely too much into this commercial?

And then there's the whole matter of the company name, STD. Granted we plucked this advert from a magazine published 11 years ago, but certainly people knew what Sexually Transmitted Diseases were in 1994. When your advertisement seems so sexually charged to begin with, is it the best idea to have the name STD on the same page? And I can only imagine the kind of diseases the Mortal Kombat crew are packing, they don't make condoms strong enough to protect you from the STD's this gang has. Perhaps it's all in my mind, I'm just seeing more in this picture than is actually there. Or maybe I'm right ... you be the judge.

FROM: The Late Show with Bad Advertising