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Original poster

Fucking Gross Adverts

393 replies

BlueEyedBogWitch · 21/09/2025 07:47

It started with little kids on the toilet with their pants round their ankles, holding their noses.

Then there was the one with a woman farting at work and then scurrying to the bathroom clutching a bog roll.

I think I reached the nadir last night when I was subjected to an advert for razors which treated me to the sight of a man bending down with his back to the camera and his hand under his dressing gown, shaving his sack and crack.

I mean, that might not be the nadir. Maybe next time they’ll drop the dressing down, and I can feast my eyes on his arsehole winking at me while it gets a short back and sides.

At this rate I’ll have to clear all the crap off my kitchen table and start eating like a civilised human again.

AIBU, or are adverts getting increasingly foul?

OP posts:
soupyspoon · 21/09/2025 11:37

SwedeAtTheFinnishLine · 21/09/2025 11:35

"I really don’t see the problem with this. I was just thinking the other day how refreshing it is that advertisers no longer have to use blue liquid to represent menstrual blood. Why should something experienced by half the people who have ever lived to adulthood be something to be ashamed of or disguised?"

Oh, this is a dishonest response. You've applied this intent to other people's reactions to make them seem unreasonable. And this is the very lie that was used to push our boundaries in the first place, this is what forces us into having more and more graphic or unpleasant imagery pushed on us. I'm not ashamed of my bodily functions just because I value my privacy and dignity. Anyone who needs the product will understand what they're for, we don't need like-for-like imagery or close ups of a woman's crotch in lacy knickers.

Everyone laughed at people who'd warned us of the slippery slope, but it's true. We became desensitised to what once shocked us and so they're able to push the limit a little further next time. And then again, and again.

Not just with product ads but ads for tv shows... I've noticed eg channel 4 promoting post watershed shows early in the morning and it just looks like they've just looked at whatever they can get away with showing, as opposed to having any common decency.
It's degeneracy that's being thrust on us, that's why our boundaries are never respected. And it's why "pushing boundaries" is always being presented as a good thing.

Very well said

VickyEadieofThigh · 21/09/2025 11:38

Zanzara · 21/09/2025 11:21

"Charm" is the very last word I would use for that advert.

You are absolutely right OP, it's as if all the kids that used to think saying bottom was funny have taken over the asylum. I said much the same as you last night to my DH when we were treated to a shot of woman sitting on the toilet, holding her panty gusset prior to applying a pad to it.

To be honest, I find it almost refreshing if there's one featuring a man for a change. Most of them seem to target women in an actively unpleasant and demeaning way, featuring or even inventing bodily problems we allegedly all suffer from. The adverts for Tena pads for men disappeared so quickly, if you blinked you missed them.

The dignity of the human spirit, let alone a little basic respect, is as naught to them.

Show quote history

The advertising industry was always male-dominated so I'm assuming it still is - and by the sort of men who think this sort of gross boundary-pushing is "edgy".

soupyspoon · 21/09/2025 11:38

ParanoidGynodroid · 21/09/2025 11:26

Not the same at all.
And those weren't adverts, they weren't trying to sell anything, they were highlighting dangers to children back in the day where children were always out playing and exploring without supervision. They were trying to save lives!

Totally different to trying to encourage people to slather unnecessary chemicals all over their nethers.

Show quote history

Yes they were public information films not adverts, completely different thing entirely.

Poenie · 21/09/2025 11:42

Totally OP. I complained to the useless /ASA in 2023 about adverts with a teenage schoolgirl sitting on a toilet with her pants round her ankles. Recently there’s been an advert showing a bloodied sanitary towel being chucked in a bin. There’s often adverts with various bums (usually women’s) being literally thrust in our faces. Why the continued attempt to shock us I don’t know but it’s definitely a deliberate andugly development.

smallpinecone · 21/09/2025 11:42

SwedeAtTheFinnishLine · 21/09/2025 11:35

"I really don’t see the problem with this. I was just thinking the other day how refreshing it is that advertisers no longer have to use blue liquid to represent menstrual blood. Why should something experienced by half the people who have ever lived to adulthood be something to be ashamed of or disguised?"

Oh, this is a dishonest response. You've applied this intent to other people's reactions to make them seem unreasonable. And this is the very lie that was used to push our boundaries in the first place, this is what forces us into having more and more graphic or unpleasant imagery pushed on us. I'm not ashamed of my bodily functions just because I value my privacy and dignity. Anyone who needs the product will understand what they're for, we don't need like-for-like imagery or close ups of a woman's crotch in lacy knickers.

Everyone laughed at people who'd warned us of the slippery slope, but it's true. We became desensitised to what once shocked us and so they're able to push the limit a little further next time. And then again, and again.

Not just with product ads but ads for tv shows... I've noticed eg channel 4 promoting post watershed shows early in the morning and it just looks like they've just looked at whatever they can get away with showing, as opposed to having any common decency.
It's degeneracy that's being thrust on us, that's why our boundaries are never respected. And it's why "pushing boundaries" is always being presented as a good thing.

Brilliantly said! 👏

Whomitmayconcern · 21/09/2025 11:42

SwedeAtTheFinnishLine · 21/09/2025 11:35

"I really don’t see the problem with this. I was just thinking the other day how refreshing it is that advertisers no longer have to use blue liquid to represent menstrual blood. Why should something experienced by half the people who have ever lived to adulthood be something to be ashamed of or disguised?"

Oh, this is a dishonest response. You've applied this intent to other people's reactions to make them seem unreasonable. And this is the very lie that was used to push our boundaries in the first place, this is what forces us into having more and more graphic or unpleasant imagery pushed on us. I'm not ashamed of my bodily functions just because I value my privacy and dignity. Anyone who needs the product will understand what they're for, we don't need like-for-like imagery or close ups of a woman's crotch in lacy knickers.

Everyone laughed at people who'd warned us of the slippery slope, but it's true. We became desensitised to what once shocked us and so they're able to push the limit a little further next time. And then again, and again.

Not just with product ads but ads for tv shows... I've noticed eg channel 4 promoting post watershed shows early in the morning and it just looks like they've just looked at whatever they can get away with showing, as opposed to having any common decency.
It's degeneracy that's being thrust on us, that's why our boundaries are never respected. And it's why "pushing boundaries" is always being presented as a good thing.

Totally agree.

KimberleyClark · 21/09/2025 11:43

I remember many years ago seeing a Scandinavian, possibly Swedish, advert on a programme looking at ads all over the world. It was for promoting condom use. A cartoon penis was slouching along (the balls were its feet) and comes across (no pun intended) a hole. It immediately brightens up, straightens up and prepares to dive in, then stops and produces a condom which it proceeds to don like someone pulling on a jumper. Another Scandi condom ad showed a man glumly pushing a supermarket trolley around with a tantrumming toddler. The slogan was “don’t want one of these? Then use one of these.” Must have been at least 20 years ago I saw these, and yet with all the ads showcasing bodily functions, in this country we still don’t have ads encouraging condom use? I think we should, at appropriate times obviously.

whynotwhatknot · 21/09/2025 11:44

most adverts are annoying and rubbish these days

bring back john smith and carling black label ones or nescafe the will they wont they

UnctuousUnicorns · 21/09/2025 11:45

Re the Pampers advert, please don't tell me that there are people out there who don't realise that a dirty nappy needs changing as soon as it's noticed. I thought that was standard knowledge! 😩

carmak · 21/09/2025 11:45

LEDZEP2 · 21/09/2025 11:21

Bulky pee pads!
Sits on mans shoulders at concert with her new incontinence knickers on the back of his neck, 😮

To be fair, it's better than her not having them on.

Poenie · 21/09/2025 11:46

Shookethh · 21/09/2025 08:34

The one with the men playing basketball and the crotch smelling

Goodness I’d forgotten that one. SO gross. Just why? It’s to be deliberately offensive I assume.

jessycake · 21/09/2025 11:49

I think seeing someone put a pad into their knickers is step too far on the tena ad , it’s not like it’s rocket science.

VickyEadieofThigh · 21/09/2025 11:49

Channel 4 can get in the bin - we stopped watching Gogglebox after all they seemed to be watching was those dreadful programmes like 'Naked attraction'. And felt it was fine for that bloke to get his knob out whilst playing the piano on the one-off 'Friday night live' - no trigger warning there, we noted.

soupyspoon · 21/09/2025 11:50

KimberleyClark · 21/09/2025 11:43

I remember many years ago seeing a Scandinavian, possibly Swedish, advert on a programme looking at ads all over the world. It was for promoting condom use. A cartoon penis was slouching along (the balls were its feet) and comes across (no pun intended) a hole. It immediately brightens up, straightens up and prepares to dive in, then stops and produces a condom which it proceeds to don like someone pulling on a jumper. Another Scandi condom ad showed a man glumly pushing a supermarket trolley around with a tantrumming toddler. The slogan was “don’t want one of these? Then use one of these.” Must have been at least 20 years ago I saw these, and yet with all the ads showcasing bodily functions, in this country we still don’t have ads encouraging condom use? I think we should, at appropriate times obviously.

Although again thats more of a public information film it sounds like, or was it for a brand of condoms?

carmak · 21/09/2025 11:51

The woman in the cinema sniffing the man's backside as he edges past!

I wonder if they'll ever reverse the sexes, probably not....just yet.

kookiemum · 21/09/2025 11:52

When you think the iconic flake advert got banned because it was too sexualised, I think you have a point. I don't want to see bikini lines or pooping, but we need to be careful, because ads that promote sexual health, DV protection and period wear are absolutely necessary, and some may say those are inappropriate.

KimberleyClark · 21/09/2025 11:56

soupyspoon · 21/09/2025 11:50

Although again thats more of a public information film it sounds like, or was it for a brand of condoms?

Show quote history

Yes a public information film encouraging men to take responsibility. I just think we are way behind here in some ways, despite all the ads for diarrhoea and period products.

Dors any one remember the anti smoking ads showing disgusting gloop dropping from the ends of people’s fags?

SwedeAtTheFinnishLine · 21/09/2025 11:57

RowNine · 21/09/2025 08:52

Blimey mumsnet is regressive

How is it regressive to want to maintain social standards and boundaries?

Why does being "progressive" always have to entail pushing people's boundaries and making people uncomfortable? Why is it always associated with degradation of societal norms and mockery of people who don't want standards to deteriorate?

What people seem to call "progressive" seems to actually be pretty regressive. Instead of promoting civility, it encourages animalistic urges and lack of compassion for people who are uncomfortable with it. That isn't progress.

WhatHoJeeves · 21/09/2025 12:00

I completely agree with you, OP.

The adverts today are increasingly revolting. I'm no Victorian prude and discuss periods etc with my husband, daughter, friends, sisters. However, I would not be waving my used sanitary pads at anyone. It's private and my business only, so why would I want to see used pads on my large screen TV?! Or any other intimate and private bodily function?

We teach children that their bodies are private so surely our bodily functions are also private? We can be unashamed, unembarrassed and relaxed about our bodies without needing to share and see every intimate detail, surely?

If it's to get us talking about their products and buying them it isn't working, as I mentally cross off any item with a gross advert from my future shopping list!

Namechanged555 · 21/09/2025 12:00

carmak · 21/09/2025 11:45

To be fair, it's better than her not having them on.

Show quote history

I thought it was a bucking bronco type horse?

Muttley17 · 21/09/2025 12:02

Years ago there was a Nike Air advert showing an athlete vomiting as he was running during a race. Totally put me off the meal I was eating at the time.

ParanoidGynodroid · 21/09/2025 12:02

Your posts are spot on, @SwedeAtTheFinnishLine 👏

Redpeach · 21/09/2025 12:04

I don't get why women sit on loos in tv dramas, surely you can tell the story without it

amusedbush · 21/09/2025 12:05

Whenever I see the Pepto advert I just think, maybe don't go to the local caff where people are preparing food if you've got a raging stomach bug 😂

The ads that make me change the channel are the "oh my gush" one and the Tena Man (or similar) with the older guy standing in his boxers talking about his leakage.

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 21/09/2025 12:05

A different take on cringe-worthy is the disposable nappies one.

Parents are woken by large baby in cot having a dump.
"Don't fear the poonami" is the message (Pampers ?) will take care of it.

Great. Parents smile & go back to sleep leaving baby in shitty nappy.