Really? Dropping a Phone in a Urinal Will Sell Windows Phone 7?

I saw this ad for Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 over the weekend and was appalled. And this is from someone who was thinking I'd add Windows Phone 7 devices to my short list, if I hear some positive reviews on them from Network World's Cool Tools columnist Keith Shaw.

(I'm the only person on the planet that doesn't have a smartphone yet.) But now, I'm not so sure. The ad shows a man dropping his phone into the urinal and a kid throwing a baseball hard as he can at his dad's head. The commercial asks, "Really?" ... and I find myself wondering the same thing. Really? Microsoft, what are you thinking and wasn't the Kin fiasco enough for you?

This ad reminds me of the one Microsoft did -- and quickly pulled -- on Internet Explorer 8 which showed a woman vomiting, many times -- and left me feeling so icky after watching it that I still associate Internet Explorer with extreme nausea. I never would have done that if I had seen Microsoft's own advertising.

If the best thing Microsoft can say about Windows Phone 7 devices is that you won't want to get addicted to them, maybe I'll set my sights on an Android ETC Evo 4G instead. Though I am afraid that carrying that monster-sized thing around will throw my back out.

This story, "Really? Dropping a Phone in a Urinal Will Sell Windows Phone 7?" was originally published by Network World.