Falling Polar Bears Ad Causing Controversy

An ad running in movie theaters in Britain is creating controversy for being both distasteful and ineffective.

The spot, conceptualized by a climate change group called Plane Stupid, shows polar bears plummeting from the sky to their bloody deaths as a plane is heard flying overheard. The ad ends with the message "An average European flight produces over 400kg of greenhouse gases for every passenger. That's the weight of an adult polar bear." Watch the ad .

Lord Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, a climate change skeptic, told the Telegraph , "Not only is this distasteful and disrespectful, it is a fraudulent piece of scaremongering. To grab headlines in this way is cheap, tasteless and childish, no doubt to get attention in time for the Copenhagen Summit. Plane Stupid has surpassed itself."

Others are questioning the effectiveness of the ad, saying that people may not get the connection between the brutal deaths of the polar bears and airline carbon emissions.

"I'm still not sure it will change behavior. The danger is that by pumping up the high octane drama of an ad, you increase the risk of viewers feeling manipulated and dismissing it as pure propaganda. Or lapsing into highly questionable failures of tact and taste in pursuit of 'edginess,'" wrote Ed Gillespie, co-director of sustainable communications agency Futerra, in The Guardian .

But Plane Stupid defended its tactics, saying that it gets people to consider their actions. "As a grassroots organization that campaigns to end short-haul flights, this ad is just the kind of hard-hitting message we need to get people to stop and think before they book their next city break without understanding the consequences."