AUSTIN, Texas – A vacation rental company says it will remove an image of a baby doll smashing against a window from a Super Bowl ad after complaints that the ad was insensitive toward child abuse and injuries.
Homeaway.com Chief Executive Brian Sharples said Tuesday the Austin-based company would remove from its website versions of the ad that depict the doll getting "smushed, smashed, or dropped." Sharples said the Super Bowl ad wouldn't air again.
The ad Sunday night from the company that markets rental homes showed people trying to fit into a crowded hotel room in a testing lab, resulting in a "test baby" being flung against a window.
Sharples apologized, saying the company "failed to understand the reality" of families dealing with serious injuries to children.
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