Dark humor or...?

So far my posts spotted good, interesting, funny and successful ads that have generally created positive buzz. Well, this time I decided to write about an interesting (in its way) advertising campaign. These series of ads will make you wonder “what were these people thinking?” And, by “these people” I refer to both the advertising agency in charge and the company itself that agreed to represent its brand this way.

Source: Burlington France, Facebok page

Burlington Industries is a Greensboro, N.C.-based textile manufacturer that licenses Burlington Socks to legwear maker Kayser-Roth for the U.S. market. In October, they released three promotional ads which were created by the French advertising company Pain Surprises.

Among the three ads, the one titled “Burlington: Can you sock me?” draw more attention. The video features a 7-8 year-old boy who asks his mother “can you sock me?” Many online magazines referred to it as “Disgusting Ad Jokes About Incest, Child Abuse” or “Apparently, Some People Think Child Abuse Jokes Will Sell Socks.”

One of the representatives of Pain Surprises said on an interview that “the ads were created to be spread virally.” The ads did not reach that level of viral success; however the company certainly managed to create some negative buzz via this campaign. AdWeek dedicated a whole article to this campaign under the title “Is This Obscure European Sock Company the World's Worst Advertiser?”

Surprised enough? Oh wait, there is more. The other ad does not fall behind. It features a dying old man in a hospital bed. When the young man (most probably his grandson) ask him if he is going to die, the old man starts weeping. Then, the young man notices the nice socks his grandpa's is wearing. So, he decides to stop grandpa's agony by pulling the plug. Unfortunately, the video is no longer available. Probably, due to the "appropriate" content the company decided to remove it from all online platforms. 

Below you can find the third ad. How far can your imagination go? Well, be prepared, it will exceed your expectations of “a painful surprise.”

So, after watching them you can probably answer my question. Is there anything good about these ads?