The most offensive tv commercial in 2011

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I saw on Huffpo a discussion recently which attempted to adjudicate the most offensive tv ad in 2011. I declined to participate, thinking that the field would be richly contested and that my own nomination would not be particularly well-informed, since I don't watch that much television to begin with.

On the other hand, I can't help wondering if anything worse could be found than the 30-second piece of arrogant, mendacious misrepresentation that prefaced the PBS Newshour every weekday evening for half of last year. This malignant piece of "underwriting," which is PBS-speak for advertising, was delivered every single night to the point of mental stultification by Chevron, anxious to define its corporate self as engaged to the exclusion of all other activities with the protection and enhancement of the environment, and the creation of employment in the economies of developing countries.

This ridiculous sanctification of Chevron's corporate mission, its suppression of the circumstance that the company exists to sell a variety of oil-products which cannot be considered other than toxic to the environment, combined with the mesmerizing stupidity and endless repetition of such dumb-downing self-presentation, should I think easily elevate Chevron to the field of top contenders for the worst tv commercial of the year.

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