A new ad for Discovery Channel's Shark Week is generating buzz for its depiction of the untimely death of a seal who gets snatched by a Great White.

The spot features a fictional live newscast about Snuffy the seal, who had washed ashore with injuries, being lowered back into the sea as a crowd gathered to watch. In a startling twist, a massive shark leaps up and chomps poor Snuffy. The crowd screams and the clip cuts back to the anchor, who says "holy sh" -- but the ad ends before the S-word is spoken. A logo for Shark Week, which begins on Aug. 4, is shown with the tagline: "It's a bad week to be a seal. For the rest of us it's pretty awesome."

What do you think: disturbingly offensive or darkly funny?

Watch the footage and sound off in the comments.

Email: erin.carlson@thr.com

Twitter: @ErinLCarlson