10 Most Bizarre Commercials Ever
1. Xbox - Life Is Short
It may be hard to imagine, but when the first Xbox came out, it had to battle just to stay alive in the console market.
The X referred to DirectX, the graphics tech used on the console. But Microsoft executives hated the name DirectX Box and the shorter version of Xbox too. However, when they focus tested it, Xbox was by far the most popular name, and therefore stuck.
While Microsoft had high hopes, the PlayStation reigned supreme and had already beaten off most of the competition. Xbox looked great, played great, and would get great exclusives like Halo and Fable. But that wouldn’t matter if no one bought it.
That’s where the ‘Life Is Short’ commercial came in. Rather than talk up all the great features, it just wanted to be talked about. Outrage marketing at its finest.
The commercial features a pregnant lady giving birth, with the baby slingshotting out of her womb. From there, it flies through the air, waking up at around age seven to scream. The screams get deeper as he gets older, then weaker as he becomes elderly. His teeth rot. Finally his decrepit body crashes into its grave. ‘Life is short’, it tells us. ‘Play more’.