Top 20 Banned Commercials of the Century (So Far)

#20: It’s Huge

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Dodge Nothing pairs better with the Super Bowl than a little bathroom humor. Envisioned for the TV event of the year, this commercial sees two men using the bathroom and spotting a poster for the new Dodge Durango. What follows is a ton of crude innuendo as the men talk about the size of the truck and “getting respect” for having it. A third man listens in from the cubicle, clearly thinking that they’re talking about… well, something else. Funnily enough, this commercial is an even tamer version of the much cruder original. The President of Dodge's national dealer council claimed, “We voiced our concern about it and they revised it.”

#19: Taking Care of Chores

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Wodka Vodka This ad from 2011 was allegedly banned for its gender stereotypes. It was part of a long-running campaign by Wodka Vodka, a Polish liquor company. In this commercial, a woman says she’ll get the house clean and cook a nice dinner for her partner while he’s at work. But it’s revealed that her private profession involves her forcing male clients to do household chores. Either the racy content or depiction of a woman being placed in a traditional role might’ve earned the ad a ban. As offensive as some may have found it, the commercial features funny and creative problem-solving. Admittedly, it’s not entirely clear what any of this has to do with vodka.

Land Rover In 2022, Land Rover released a stunning commercial with wonderful production values. It’s a certified adventure, with the vehicles driving under waterfalls and over sand dunes before ultimately backing up on a cliff. The latter was to show off the vehicle’s parking sensors, but it was too much for the Advertising Standards Authority. In their opinion, the commercial was insinuating that the Land Rover would alert drivers of steep drops when in reality, the sensor does not do this. The company argued that the sensor was picking up the nearby rocks, but the Standards Authority was not convinced and had the commercial pulled for misleading viewers.

#17: A Raunchy Meeting

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Ashley Madison The Canadian dating service has had a tough time with Fox and getting their commercials on the Super Bowl. For those unaware, Ashley Madison is a matching service that allows its married users to have affairs, and it carries the rather bizarre slogan” “Life is short. Have an affair.” Ashley Madison produced a commercial for the 2011 Super Bowl in which adult star Savanna Samson informs her co-workers that she had been cheated on. A raunchy montage then shows the rest of the office having affairs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fox wanted nothing to do with this commercial and refused to air it during the game.

Six Nations Rugby Championship When you initially watch this commercial, it seems like everybody is supporting the English rugby team in the lead-up to 2012’s Six Nations Rugby Championship. But you’ll see a hilariously unexpected truth when you look closer. The people voicing their support for England are wearing flags and coats of arms from different countries that also compete. Fans from Wales, Ireland, and Italy are all seen. A tagline reveals that these people are actually naming the country they want to lose the tournament. The BBC pulled the trailer over fears it would upset the English before pulling another similar ad in 2017.

SodaStream Despite the creativity on display, advertising is a business, and it all comes down to partnerships and dollars. Back in 2014, Scarlett Johansson starred in a Super Bowl SodaStream commercial. Clad in a black dress, she seductively drinks through a straw and stares into the camera. She then apologizes to Coke and Pepsi, perhaps insinuating that SodaStream will put them out of business. There was just one problem with this. Pepsi was sponsoring that year’s halftime show, and Fox was afraid that the line would offend their business partner. They asked SodaStream to cut the dig at Coke and Pepsi, which they ultimately did.

#14: Mickey Rooney Bares It All

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Airborne Fox clearly has one heck of a time sifting through the Super Bowl ads and separating the “boundary-pushing” from the “too much.” In 2005, the cold remedy brand Airborne planned to release a commercial starring the late Mickey Rooney. Rooney is chillin’ in a sauna and reading a newspaper when a woman coughs, causing him to flee in terror. His towel slips on the way out, briefly exposing his bare behind to the camera. Fox was absolutely adamant that this not air, especially after last year’s infamous Janet Jackson fiasco (although they claimed that that had nothing to do with it). Fox outright denied the commercial, saying it was “inappropriate for broadcast television.”

PETA With a name like “Veggie Love” (their title, not ours), one can see why this commercial was deemed inappropriate. What exactly is “Veggie Love,” you may ask? Don’t say we didn’t warn you. In a bid to turn viewers vegetarian, the commercial claims that “vegetarians have better sex.” Running with this theme, the ad shows attractive women getting rather intimate with a variety of vegetables. Maybe they liked the message, we don’t know, but NBC certainly hated the way it was delivered. The network sent PETA a number of required edits, positing that the ad was way too graphic for broadcast TV. PETA refused to make the changes, so the commercial was ultimately rejected and banned from the airwaves.

Hyundai In this car commercial, we see an older woman driving with a much younger man in her vehicle. She then sees her husband driving in a different car up ahead and puts the passenger seat all the way back so the husband won’t see her companion. At the end of the commercial though, it’s revealed that the husband – also driving a Hyundai – is hiding an affair too. It just so happens that he's accompanied by a young man wearing a cowboy hat. It’s unclear what got the ad banned. Either way, it was a clever way to show off a car’s passenger seat.

#11: Prison Visitor

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Vim Cream We open on a shot of a woman behind a glass screen and her young daughter seemingly visiting her in prison. But it’s quickly revealed that the mom isn’t in prison at all—she’s actually trapped in her bathtub. Any adult knows that cleaning the bathroom is probably the worst of all household jobs. Vim offered to expedite the process with its flashy cleaning cream. Despite being widely acclaimed in the advertising world, this ad was supposedly pulled at one time. Maybe the prison setup was too much for viewers to handle.

Volkswagen Back in 2019, the United Kingdom enacted a law preventing advertisements from engaging in gender stereotypes. And it didn’t take long for the banhammer to start swingin’. Volkswagen was almost immediately hit, as their new commercial for the eGolf was deemed problematic by the Advertising Standards Authority. The commercial depicts men in exciting or adventurous scenarios, like competing in sports, camping on a cliff, and floating in space. Meanwhile, the only woman seen in the commercial is reading on a park bench next to a baby stroller. The ASA argued that this gender dichotomy was harmful, suggesting that women are more suited to domestic roles. Volkswagen argued otherwise, but it was no good. The ban came hard and swift.

#9: Green vs. Fossil Fuels

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Shell “The UK is ready for cleaner energy.” So says Shell, a British oil and gas company that is making progress towards cleaner initiatives. In 2023, Shell produced a series of advertisements showcasing their various plans for producing cleaner energy and renewable electricity. However, the Advertising Standards Authority struck again, claiming that the ad was misleading. According to them, the commercial made it seem like Shell was a clean company when in reality they are releasing staggering amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. In their words, it “misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives [have] played… as part of the overall balance of [the company’s] activities.” Shell retaliated, arguing that by banning the campaign, the ASA was actually doing more public harm than good.

#8: Celebrity Gambling Ads

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Various In April of 2022, Ontario legalized online gambling, and the practice became an immediate success. It quickly became one of the largest iGaming jurisdictions in North America, generating $35 billion in wagers and $1.4 billion in revenue in its first year. But it didn’t take long for the law to make some stipulations. In August 2023 - just sixteen months after legalization - Ontario forbade the use of celebrities in gambling advertisements. Some of the bigger commercials see Aaron Paul touting the benefits of Bet365, or a stylish Jamie Foxx gambling through BetMGM. As of February 2024, these commercials will be banned in Ontario, with the province’s Alcohol and Gaming Commission arguing that celebrities would make younger viewers more susceptible to gambling.

Veet Unlike many other contentious commercials, these ads were part of an extensive campaign. So, there are quite a few of them that all follow the same trend. They went out in 2014 and implied a woman forgetting to shave or wax for a day would make her turn into an extremely hairy man. Multiple people including a beautician, a cab driver, and an extremely judgmental paramedic were horrified at the existence of body hair on a woman. We understand Veet is a company that makes hair removal products and needs to advertise them. But despite some potential for sharp social commentary, pretty much everybody felt these commercials missed the mark.

#6: Lab Rat Test

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Nintendo Gameboy Micro The Gameboy took the world by storm as a wildly popular handheld. Its Micro version rounded out the Gameboy family when it was released in 2005. But one ad could’ve ruined Nintendo’s mostly family-friendly image. We see a rat placed in a maze with a Gameboy and a piece of cheese. Scientists mean to test whether the food or handheld is more irresistible. Naturally, the rat chooses the Gameboy. But things definitely cross a line when the rat appreciates the Gameboy Micro…*ahem* way too much. Given the inappropriate content in a commercial aimed at kids, it’s easy to see why this hilariously unexpected ad may have been downplayed.

#5: Grim Reaper

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Hyundai Veloster Although it’s always good for any car manufacturer to focus on how safe its latest vehicle is, Hyundai definitely took it a little too far in this commercial for the Veloster. In it, we see a woman being driven home in a Ford Focus. Unfortunately, she forgets to look both ways when she gets out. She immediately gets into a car accident thanks to the Grim Reaper’s influence. We then see the same scenario play out again, but this time she’s in a Hyundai Veloster. Since it’s a three-door, she gets out on the other side and avoids the accident while the grim reaper gets hilarious comeuppance. In a rare instance, Hyundai decided to take the ad out of rotation before it was fully banned.

Frida Mom A brand dedicated to postpartum recovery, Frida Mom sells a number of products that help women overcome their post-birth struggles. In 2020, they created an ad that they hoped to air at that year’s Oscars. It shows a woman waking up at three in the morning and changing her adult diaper in the bathroom. However, this commercial was rejected by ABC, who refused to have it aired during their Oscars ceremony. According to them, it was “too graphic with partial nudity and product demonstration,” and owing to its “graphic” nature, it could not be shown on broadcast television. Frida Mom ultimately uploaded the ad to YouTube, complete with a text prelude explaining its rejection by ABC.

Bud Light In this attention-grabbing Super Bowl ad, an office clothing drive promises to give people a Bud Light for every item of clothing donated. This leads to office workers giving away every piece of clothing on their bodies. Though the nudity is all censored, the amusing concept quickly grows uncomfortable as the ad goes on. It was ultimately deemed too much for television. But it’s not the only banned Bud Light advert to get in trouble. A commercial with an over-the-top pillow fight was criticized for violence. And yet another ad about two skinny dippers was also pulled from screens for the risque content.

#2: In the Hole

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kgb This is another Super Bowl spot that didn’t get past the censors. Designed to be as shocking as possible, it features two golfers who get their heads stuck in their rear-ends after discussing global warming. The ad makes it clear that they don’t really know much about the subject. Seeing as kgb is a fact-checking service, the crux of the ad is that if you don’t use them, you’ll end up just like these unfortunate golfing guys. The commercial is definitely funny and memorable. However, CBS kept kgb’s ad off its airways.

#1: The Last Dictator Standing

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Nando’s The last thing you should be doing while you’re trying to advertise a chicken restaurant is feature a roster of the world’s most notorious dictators. But that’s exactly what Nando’s did in this insane commercial from 2011. It featured Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, who was still alive at the time, hanging out with Colonel Gaddafi, Mao Zedong, and even Saddam Hussein. The ad ends with the suggestion that Mugabe is upset that his fellow autocrats have been removed from power because he doesn’t have anyone to share his chicken with. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but this ad would firmly disagree. After staff received threats of boycotts and even violence, the commercial was pulled.