Has CBA taken it too far?

The Commonwealth Bank has recently released a controversial ad, that played on terrorism as part of their sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics. It follows on from the series of ads featuring the characters C, A, N and T. It features the C, A and N characters reporting the T to security for having a suspicious backpack informing security they heard a ticking noise. For those of you who haven’t seen the ad, here it is:

http://media.theage.com.au/business/businessday/the-ad-cba-pulled-off-3522097.html

The ad was uploaded on YouTube on August 1, and was taken down soon after. A spokeswomen from CBA stated “The Commonwealth bank apologises for the video released to its YouTube Channel. We acknowledge some concerns were raised and the material was withdrawn this morning”.

The ad follows a series featuring the C, A, N, T characters including an ad staring James Magnussen.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald comments on this ad [http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/swimming-london-2012/down-to-a-t--the-missile-and-the-message-20120730-239c2.html] saying it was a reminder of the swimmers shortcomings. 

The ad shows C, A, N following James, praising him, followed by the T raising doubts. The bank said they will continue to use athletes in follow up campaigns and do not plan to remove the James Magnussen ad in the lead up to future races.

In The Age article, the banks chief marketing officer alledgedly told another website that the terrorist ad was unauthorized. ‘It was unapproved video that got released. We’ve pulled it down’

Personally, I can see the angle CBA was going for in this ad, however due to the 2005 London bombings, I feel the ad may have taken it too far. There are so many other emotional appeals to provoke in media campaigns, terrorism is one that just shouldn't be touched.

Do you think CBA has taken the use of a comedic appeal to far? Or have people over-reacted?