1989 Amnesty International television commercial. Initially, CBS and NBC refused to air it -- having decided it too graphic -- but eventually they did run it, as did ABC and the independents. Frames from the commercial were used in a print campaign that ran simultaneously in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other newspapers. In it, a political prisoner undergoes a torture technique called "waterboarding," which involves repeatedly dunking a prisoner's head underwater during interrogation until he believes he is drowning.