Bad video or clever advertising?

I received what usually would be described as a 'spam' email from one of my friends the other day about a Gnarls Barkley video that was apparently 'banned' from MTV because it failed their epileptic-seizure tests. Whatever that means.

So, blessed with some extra time, and given the subject nature, I decided to see if there was anything to it:
I'm not that familiar with Gnarls' stuff (indeed, if he is not a band consisting of a large black man and a DJ, then the video is spreading misinformation to newbies) but I actually liked the song. However, the video itself was nothing extraordinary. As I was about to close the video and wonder what all the fuss was about, at about the 2:10 mark, the style changed dramatically. Here's some screen shots of what you see:And...And...Keep in mind those backgrounds are constantly moving. I had to look away after a few moments. So, my reaction was that the director was out of his mind if he thought that could get broadcast. And then after a minute I thought: if he hadn't done this, I probably would have never heard of the song and definitely never seen the video. (Not only are my days of watching videos on MTV long gone, but so are MTV's days of showing videos other than between 4 and 4:30 on a weekday.) So, was this an inept director, or a new clever marketing scheme? I can see the FCC review board conversation now: "This video fits perfectly into our guideline of what to reject." "Yes... maybe too perfectly..."