A television ad intended to jolt viewers to the impact of environmental destruction on future generations was taken off the air after complaints that a scene of a chainsaw cutting open a boy mannequin were too gruesome, the station said on Saturday.

Since MediaCorp started showing the "Saving Gaia" video on June 5, upset parents have written to newspapers and gone on internet forums describing the commercial as "distasteful," "scary" and "shocking." Several called the station urging the ad to be canned.

Gaia means Goddess of Earth in Greek and was part of MediaCorp's environmental awareness campaign.

It opened with a shot of tar being poured on a mannequin of a boy. Smoke and haze, representing air pollution, engulfed the figure. Finally, the mannequin's head was cut open with a chainsaw, representing deforestation. The image then changed into a real child's face.

"Think about what we're destroying," read the message across the screen.

Florence Lian, MediaCorp's senior vice-president of marketing and creative services, said earlier that the station wanted to convey the message that the current pollution and destruction we are wreaking on Mother Earth "is something we are wreaking on ourselves, and our future generations."

Among the complaints was one e-mailed to The Straits Times from a housewife complaining that her 11-year-old suffered from nightmares after watching the ad.

"Children aren't able to tell the difference between a mannequin and a real boy," she was quoted as saying. (dpa)