So much so that YouTube has since had to take down the ad following a slew of user complaints. According to YouTube, they claim that they pulled the ad because it “violates our shocking content policy and it’s no longer running as an ad”. Users were reporting that they were still seeing the ad even after YouTube announced its takedown, but chances are it probably took a while before it was fully removed, but it’s good to see YouTube acknowledge it.
Some users are even questioning how the ad was even approved to begin with, and how it made it past the review, and why YouTube thought that this jump scare ad was appropriate. As Gizmodo points out, Google has policies in place that specifically prohibit such ads that depict “violent language, gruesome or disgusting imagery, or graphic images or accounts of physical trauma”, or ads “that are likely to shock or scare”.
For those who are curious as to what the ad actually looks like, it has been reuploaded here.