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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
UnctuousUnicorns · 21/09/2025 11:11

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 21/09/2025 10:01

Ugh and that all over deodorant for bollocks, bums and fannies. Gross ad,

I think that's the one I was "treated" to in big screen glory at the cinema. I'm still traumatized now.

I mostly watch drama serials on iPlayer, or films on Prime which doesn't have many adverts, so I don't see many of them.DH recently watched a film via the Channel 4 app. So many blinking adverts! Reminded me of why I usually watch Prime.

VickyEadieofThigh · 21/09/2025 11:11

Womanofcustard · 21/09/2025 10:50

Where is everybody seeing these ads? I’ve never seen any of them! I mostly watch YouTube, it’s just Jet2 holiday adverts there.

And you've answered your own question really, haven't you?

But in case not - we see them on commercial television.

BorneBackCeaselesslyIntoThePas · 21/09/2025 11:12

AndStand · 21/09/2025 10:40

I also can't stand the loo roll ad of the child at school hovering his way through the school holding the loo roll like it's a trophy. I hate the visible fart, and the audible plop at the end.
But the crotch sniffing for "lower body deodorant" is awful. Who is that advert aimed at? People who can't be bothered to wash that's who.

And in today’s news I’ve discovered that my ‘hit the mute button for adverts’ success rate is 100% because I didn’t know the loo advert had these sound effects

dottiedodah · 21/09/2025 11:12

I think generally standards are low now.I always hated scenes in Dramas where they are in the loo (esp in the Mens!) Really gross and unpleasant .Dislike the lady on the loo too (period product or anal wipe? ) Also when ladies are supposed to (cruise through their monthly )Roller skating or whatever!

NorthernGirl1975 · 21/09/2025 11:15

Do you remember that kid who wouldn't go to the toilet because he wanted to do a poo at Paul's?

smallpinecone · 21/09/2025 11:16

GiraffesAtThePark · 21/09/2025 10:18

I remember the complaints from feminist sites I used to follow, complaining about the blue liquid instead of red. Thinking back that’s one of those examples that show how some just focus on the frivolous things that don’t really matter. For a start, they used that blue liquid in nappy adverts too so it was less a feminist issue and more not wanting to show bodily liquids. Not everyone wants to see that.

I’m not squeamish. I deal with blood and bodily fluids on a daily basis, but I still find it repulsive in adverts.

It’s the being forced to confront the graphic, dirty details when I’m quite capable of using my imagination. It’s almost as though the advertisers have to dumb it down to the lowest possible level, almost as though we’re animals with no finer feelings or sensitivities. I rather resent this.

DBSFstupid · 21/09/2025 11:16

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?

I agree, it is really foul! (one of my favourite words!)

shellyleppard · 21/09/2025 11:17

@VickyEadieofThigh agree 💯. But the bloke shaving his bits 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮

LEDZEP2 · 21/09/2025 11:17

soupyspoon · 21/09/2025 08:33

I think its largely indicative of the increasing reduction in boundaries, privacy and standards.

All very boring to some people but I think it has an emotional impact on how we interact and manage ourselves as a society. We're pretty emotionally incontinent, lacking in resilience, very poor MH, this isnt because we're all more in tune or in touch with our emotional health, its quite the opposite, and it might not seem connected but a breaking down of boundaries and taboos is part of that in my view.

Humans need structure and rules. We're just big children after all.

Bulky pee pads , then she's sitting on someone's shoulders, with her incontinence knickers on the back of his neck,

DBSFstupid · 21/09/2025 11:19

LEDZEP2 · 21/09/2025 11:17

Bulky pee pads , then she's sitting on someone's shoulders, with her incontinence knickers on the back of his neck,

Show quote history

😳

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, 😮

Zanzara · 21/09/2025 11:21

LetGoLetThem1234 · 21/09/2025 08:31

Now this commercial has a little bit of a charm to it: the wink the chap gives, plus the Welsh accent and bottom cluck - makes me laugh

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"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.

bluevelvetears · 21/09/2025 11:24

Fionasapples · 21/09/2025 10:50

I'm convinced they're written by an 8 year old who thinks poo and bottoms are hilarious.

Yes and I'm convinced that in some cases they're written by pervy men tbh.

ParanoidGynodroid · 21/09/2025 11:26

doistayordoigo · 21/09/2025 10:34

I think people are forgetting we used to have much more graphic adverts with kids getting run over on the railway lines or drowning in quarries that were shown regularly. Personally I'd rather have the jaunty Pepto Bismol ad. The KFC one though is properly weird and makes no actual sense.

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.

soupyspoon · 21/09/2025 11:26

User987439 · 21/09/2025 11:10

This is not too far off the mark. The problem with advertising is that it has to appeal to the widest audience possible and the vast majority of people are simply not that smart. Anyone who can discuss this subject in writing is living in a confirmation bias bubble that most people are similar to them. However the truth is that a huge number of people are essentially illiterate, either through lack of education or lack of the local language skills. To understand most forms of "smart" humour, you need a base level of social or pop-cultural knowledge. You have to have consumed enough media to get the references or punchlines made in a certain piece of content.

The vast majority of the population simply don't have this. This is made even more difficult because of the various demographics...and average 59 year old male builder won't understand the same references as a SAHM with 3 kids and no english skills. So this means a lot of advertising has to be hugely visual, using themes that are understood by the majority of people regardless of their education level, gender or background. This boils down to crude toilet humour, sexual references and "brainrot" like AI generated cats or babies. As dreadful as these things are, these perform better because they can be consumed by the highest number of people.

Advertising execs achieve more success when they actively dumb down their content. They understand that the silent majority of the population are not glamorous or clever people to market to. These are often adults with the same humour or education level as children/teens so anything that works on kids will also work for stupid adults. Things that are very literal, almost cartoon like such as a child doing a poo and holding their nose to show it's stinking. It's all hugely exaggerated storytelling so the consumer doesn't have to do any thinking for themselves. They need to get them to recognise the brand in a store and hopefully buy it, that's all. They don't care about alienating the tiny percent of viewers who think the ads are stupid because that's a statistically far smaller slice of the market.

Show quote history

I agree with much of this except that conversely around the brand recognition I think it does the opposite. I couldnt tell you quite often what brand is being advertised and sometimes even what product, either because its so banal or the 'story' is all consuming and over focused and therefore the product itself gets lost.

SybTheGeek · 21/09/2025 11:27

BlueEyedBogWitch · 21/09/2025 08:11

I’m not bothered about red period blood; if we have to see it, it might as well be red.

I don’t understand why we have to see it at all, though. Loo paper and nappies manage to advertise without showing what they’re there to soak up.

Up to now, anyway…

They are already showing poo in a supposedly hilarious cartoon format, so it probably won't be long before we are treated to the real thing :(

OhNoNotSusan · 21/09/2025 11:28

the women with their pee pants going to a club
i guess incontinence is out in the open that's for sure

OhNoNotSusan · 21/09/2025 11:29

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, 😮

that's the one!

mzpq · 21/09/2025 11:29

LauraNorda · 21/09/2025 09:06

Not offended at all and I used to swear a lot.

However, it was pointed out to me that swearing sets out your stall. If you are effing and jeffing all the time, others may see you as low-rent, common, uneducated. People may 'screen-out' your words and may extend to any good ideas you may have.

I don't think anyone has ever listened to people more, or taken them more seriously, when every sentence contains a swear word.

That struck a cord with me and I don't swear any more.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

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'Low-rent'?

Is that you Andrew? 🤔

Laiste · 21/09/2025 11:33

I can picture the team sitting in the office coming up with their next ad.

Gleeful expression on Gavin as he says ''I know!!! Let's SHOW the fart moving the trousers!!''

Lots of faux concern about people not wanting to use the loo at work - ''Yeah yeah - let's address this head on! We're so radical ...''

And the Dominos ad team? ...

No - i cannot imagine the people who would sit there and think some weirdo in his room shaving his balls or some strange looking couple in (what looks like a cold) bath together would make me peckish for a take away ?!? 😫

smallpinecone · 21/09/2025 11:33

LEDZEP2 · 21/09/2025 11:17

Bulky pee pads , then she's sitting on someone's shoulders, with her incontinence knickers on the back of his neck,

Show quote history

OMG 🤢

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.

LakieLady · 21/09/2025 11:36

LetGoLetThem1234 · 21/09/2025 08:31

Now this commercial has a little bit of a charm to it: the wink the chap gives, plus the Welsh accent and bottom cluck - makes me laugh

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It makes me laugh, too.

I find the incongruity of the jolly music and grim digestive disorders amusing.

UnctuousUnicorns · 21/09/2025 11:36

UnctuousUnicorns · 21/09/2025 11:11

I think that's the one I was "treated" to in big screen glory at the cinema. I'm still traumatized now.

I mostly watch drama serials on iPlayer, or films on Prime which doesn't have many adverts, so I don't see many of them.DH recently watched a film via the Channel 4 app. So many blinking adverts! Reminded me of why I usually watch Prime.

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DH and I watched... that should say.

carmak · 21/09/2025 11:37

The 'bulky pee pads' woman is on frequently during the day, for obvious reasons. She must get recognised all the time when she's out and about.

It's only a matter of time.💩💩💩

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