Does Microsoft's New Kin Ad Promote Sexting? (VIDEO)

*See video below.*
The near-ubiquity of mobile devices has brought with it a polarizing social phenomenon: sexting, the act of sending explicit text messages or photographs via mobile device.

Adults aren't the only ones engaging in this behavior. Indeed, sexting has been called "the latest challenge in parenting" by some.

Sexting has been known to get celebrities like Tiger Woods and Jesse James in hot water, but it also poses a major risk to teens and tweens, one in four of whom admit to sexting. Recently sexting scandals involving minors have included a 41-year-old teacher accused of sending illicit messages to her student, as well as an 8th-grader who reportedly sold a nude sext of his girlfriend

Given these sexting risks, an ad for Microsoft's new line of 'social' smartphones, the Kin, aimed at social media-savvy teens and twenty-somethings, has some perplexed.

The Electronics Blog at Consumer Reports asks whether Microsoft's 'creepy Kin video' encourages sexting:

The video, on a promotional site for the new phones, includes a downright creepy sequence in which a young man is shown putting a Kin under his shirt and apparently snapping a picture of one of his naked breasts. The breast is then shown on the phone's screen, just before the guy apparently sends it to someone. Next we see the face of a young woman, seemingly the recipient, with an amused expression on her face.

See the Kin ad below, then tell us what you think.

UPDATE: April 16, 2010--Microsoft has decided to take down the ad in question, according to Consumer Reports:

In the words of spokesman Patrick Neighorn: "Microsoft takes the issue of sexting very seriously and it was never our intent to promote it in any way."

As of 5 pm today, however, we were still able to view the video on Microsoft's promotional website for the Kin. Microsoft's Neighorn told us that might be because it was taking the company some time to remove the video from all servers that host the site.

WATCH: [via MobileCrunch]

Quick Poll

Do you think the Kin ad encourages sexting?

No--the ad is fine.

Yes--it's inappropriate.

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[Dorota Umeno]

02:47 PM on 04/24/2010

I think it's a ridiculous premise to try to blame a technology or a corporation or a product for a social behavior. We won't fix the "sexting" problem in teens by banning one ad, and I feel the "problem" is irrelevant in evaluating the ad. All promotion in our society is over-sexualized, why does this ad get so much attention? Next we should write an article blaming perfume or clothing manufacturers that use youthful and scantily clad models to promote their stuff for promoting teen pregnancy, and we know that's a problem...

[zeiben]

01:22 PM on 04/21/2010

It also encourages crappy advertising

[bigmovieman]

04:55 PM on 04/19/2010

grrr, so now they're censoring men's breasts? I'm all for gender equality but I was thinking more in the OTHER direction.

[SPQR1052]

07:22 AM on 04/18/2010

Tame. Ought to view whats on my iPhone recieved and sent. (Consenting adults of course)

[barrycourage]

05:11 AM on 04/18/2010

The pectoral is miscast.

It would better suit an ad for the Audi T T.

[bernusdellus]

02:57 AM on 04/18/2010

microsoft should stick to what they do best... Using expensive lawyers to get them off of stealing other peoples technology then turning into a really, really badly designed wannabe product.

Like when they stole the technology for windows from Apple.

[OmegaHunter]

01:55 PM on 04/19/2010

You mean the GUI interface that Apple stole from Xerox first?

[bernusdellus]

05:44 AM on 04/20/2010

Very good, my well informed friend.

However, the significant difference is that Xerox were a party to the transfer of technological concepts.

Yes, the deal failed at the 11th hour, and Apple were almost certainly off-side in where they took it, but it started out as an intentional business deal to popularise Xerox technology by licensing it to a third party.

microsoft's piracy of Apple's proprietary technology had no such basis.

Do two wrongs make a right? No. But at least, I think, we can claim honesty of intention with Apple.

Next time you're in Auckland... Fancy a beer? :)

[Dnietz]

02:00 AM on 04/18/2010

I didn't answer the poll because I think the premise is messed up.

Yes, Microsoft has the worst astroturf campaigns ever. They are so fake they are hard to watch. And they wonder why their brand name has no "buzz" in the market.

But that is Microsoft's problem and they are only hurting themselves.

The problem I have with this poll and this article is the bias and attempt to form opinion. Sexting is on its own not a problem for society. It is legal amongst consenting adults AND in fact it is legal amongst consenting minors.

News flash, it is not illegal for someone under 17 to have sex with another person under 17. Therefore sexting amongst teens is not illegal.

And don't bring up any bull about child porn and how sexting is getting tagged with that label. The same ultra conservatives that want t teach abstinence only are losing their minds over sexting. Those court cases lost by the kids will all get challenged in court and they will fall. That is silly tripe.

Good job catering to Puritanical ultra conservatives with this article.

[hey0there]

12:38 AM on 04/18/2010

manufactured controversy

[gigantor21]

10:07 PM on 04/17/2010

Much ado about nothing.

[kintarius]

09:19 PM on 04/17/2010

The add isn't even aimed at anyone underaged. It's aimed at the 20-something demographic that hits the bars 5 nights a week wasting their paychecks. I doubt most kids would even find the ad interesting after the first 5 seconds.

[mbaty]

08:03 PM on 04/17/2010

Let the people sext!
Who cares?
It's sexting while driving that's the problem.

[Nick Searcy]

07:32 PM on 04/17/2010

How about: Yes it sort of promotes sexting and is okay. Get over yourself. Kids will be more sexual than they're parents would prefer with or without phones.

[alexolife]

06:55 PM on 04/17/2010

Where's the "Yes--and there's nothing wrong with that" button?

Apple promotes product with attractive young people:
HP: OMG THAT THING IS SO SEXY I WANT TWO!

Microsoft promotes product with attractive young people:
HP: OMG SEX IS THE DEVIL BURN THE WITCH!

[Dnietz]

02:01 AM on 04/18/2010

exactly !

[exmas]

06:42 PM on 04/17/2010

I liken this to the fruit drink commercial that show a rainbow diverse group of kids having a great time hanging together. Everyone is smiling, being completely encouraging and supportive.

The idea is to plant into the young peoples minds that if they buy the product they will somehow "fit in."

The irony is that even kids who imagine that Avatar's planet really exists, know that this kind of world, where no outsider is being excluded or beaten to a pulp (or at the very least being stuffed into a trash can), is a purely imaginary.

Even teens already know that it is your brand of medication, not your brand of cell phone, that gets you entry into this kind of world. Automatically the person who buys a Kin gets branded as a wannabe by his peers, and is automatically shunned.

I sense an epic product fail here.

Be aware the above content was intended as humor, and not merely as a bile ridden cynical-diatribe, fueled by years of peer abuse and/or mostly substandard anesthesia.

[David Christensen]

06:24 PM on 04/17/2010

Next thing you know Religious groups and conservatives will announce that sexting will make you go blind.

[Dnietz]

02:02 AM on 04/18/2010

Well, they already say it will get you sent t hades......