As the PlayStation family grew, so did the self-conscious edginess of its advertising. Nowhere was this more true than Europe, where PlayStation ads would go out of their way to court controversy - bringing its own reward by sparking moral indignation and public outrage.
Here's a gallery featuring some of Sony Europe's most baffling attempts to shock.
It's an eruption of blood and viscera, with screaming and grunting and the ripping of skin, and then this horrible purple, squished thing appears, and somebody hands you a pair of scissors and asks you to cut through a tube of meat, and it's so tough that you spend several minutes hacking away at it in a daze, and then you get through it finally, and it explodes in an eruption of claret which goes everywhere, like you've suddenly found yourself in a Tarantino movie.
Sony thought this would be a good way to advertise the PlayStation 2, albeit with a tattooed, sexless, baby. Why?
WHY?
Perhaps somebody within the advertising agency has a fetish about disappearing up a lady's chuff and then being squeezed out, all covered in amniotic fluid. Again; I've seen what happens when even a small human being emerges from a lady's chuff, and it's about as far from sexy as it's possible to get. In fact, it's literally the most unnatural thing I could imagine.
And-far-worse-for-the-man-joke.
IT ISN'T JUST A LUMP OF MEAT. THEY NEVER TOLD ME IT'D BASICALLY BE A HOSE FULL OF BLOOD.
Imagine that now. I'll wait...
You know who else drank urine? The pervert Rolf Harris apparently enjoyed sipping on his very own amber nectar.
"Can you tell what it is yet?"
"Yes, Rolf. It's your piss."
"ROFL."
Not so much "Added enjoyment" as "Sudden, unwanted concern".
Easily the worst aspect of this image is that curious, dark, crease in the fold of the X. I think it's meant to be an anus!!!!!
Because, y'know... uh... PlayStation... reasons...