• by Shankar Gupta , December 20, 2006

Live music production and promotion firm Control Room Tuesday cancelled an online campaign promoting a concert by performer Pink, in the wake of bad press surrounding the ads' racy imagery.

The ads were set to run on sites like PerezHilton.com, which have recently featured photos of female celebrities accidentally exposing themselves. The campaigns had slogans such as "See the Real Pink" and "Don't U and UR Hand Have Better Places to Be?" referring to Pinks' hit single, "U and UR Hand."

The campaign highlighted the fact that the Pink concert was being sponsored by Ford, although the car manufacturer said it wasn't aware of the online campaign. After a host of publications--including AdWeek, AdAge, and PaidContent--reported on their Web sites on the campaign, Control Room announced it wouldn't run. "Such advertising tactics are not consistent with our vision or marketing practices. The ads have not yet been posted and will not be running on any websites," said Nina Guralnick, Control Room's general manager, in a statement.

MSN, which will host the concert on its music section, also wasn't involved in the ad campaign, said Rob Bennett, general manager for entertainment and video services. "Microsoft had no knowledge of Control Room's Pink concert advertising campaign," he said in a statement. "The reported ad campaign is counter to MSN's brand identity, and we are happy Control Room has pulled them."

MSN in September tapped Control Room to stream live concerts for the portal. Previously, Control Room (formerly known as Network Live) helped produce concert Webcasts for AOL.