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Terribly Tasteless Ad For Dental Floss

For Equate, Walmart's brand of dental floss. Via Guatemala.

Just released Friday.

The awkward headline is probably because the ad was translated from Spanish for publicity purposes. But the idiocy of the idea translates just fine. In case you don't get the ad, the visual shows a young Osama bin Laden (according to the agency) throwing a plane at blocks meant to represent the World Trade Center. The dental floss is grabbing the plane before the problem "grows up."

The ad agency is Avance WWP.

Equate is a Walmart brand.

Quite possibly could be a spec ad that never ran, released by the agency to try to win awards. But if so, the agency is taking a big stupid chance doing it with a such a major brand.

Anyway: Could we stop — please — will the exploitation of the 9/11 massacre to sell products (more examples)?