Top 10 Most Offensive Advertisements of All Time

Love Cosmetics

One of the most infamous company campaigns of the 1970s revolved around the “Baby Soft” line of body and bath products for Love Cosmetics. The “Innocence is Sexier Than You Think” campaign often featured young models or women made to look as youthful as possible. Outside of the slogan, the images and poses were often suggestive. In one commercial, an older woman in the ad suggestively licks a prop lollipop while infantile music plays in the background. And there’s also narration that continually objectifies her. The model’s short outfit, creepy focus on youth and objectification all made us question how this cringey ad was ever greenlit.

Bloomingdale’s

Back in 2015, Bloomingdale included a very questionable advertisement in its magazine. While a female model was laughing and having a good time, the guy in the pic was staring at her back. The accompanying text read: “spike your friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking.” Additionally, the male model’s suspicious look made it seem like he had bad intentions for his friend. Soon after it was released, it received pushback from consumers who thought the ad was saying it’s okay to sedate others without consent. Bloomingdale’s soon issued a full apology for the ad. But since it was already printed, it remained in circulation throughout the holiday season.

National Airlines

The “Fly Me” campaign from National Airlines initially featured its actual female stewardesses smiling broadly for the camera. While the picture was innocent on the surface, the suggestive slogan suggested something a lot more risqué was going on. National Airlines went on to release more varieties of the same ad in print and on tv to pull in customers. While some consumers responded positively to the campaign, others protested it. People felt the suggestive ads encouraged customers to treat stewardesses like potential romantic partners instead of professionals. National was far from the only company to use sex to sell a product. An infamous Tipalet tobacco ad featured the slogan, “blow in her face, and she’ll follow you anywhere.” [xref]

Hyundai Motor Company

It’s difficult to believe that car manufacturing giant Hyundai couldn’t see how wildly offensive this ad campaign was as soon as they saw it. The commercial features a depressed man sitting in a car within a garage. After a few tense seconds, it becomes clear that he intends to take his own life by using the car’s exhaust. But the commercial takes another turn by revealing that he survived because the Hyundai ix35 featured “100% water emissions.” The company's decision to use such a serious subject to sell cars was seen as incredibly irresponsible. After receiving a ton of backlash, the extremely controversial commercial was quickly taken down.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Paying big bucks to air your ad during the Super Bowl can be a great way to get tons of exposure for your business. Unfortunately for Nationwide, this big gamble backfired. In 2015, the company released a commercial where a kid is having normal childhood experiences. But he kept alluding to the fact that he won’t get to do any of the onscreen activities. As the commercial is winding down, it’s revealed the main character passed away from a household accident. Consumers blasted this commercial about preventing similar instances at home because it was viewed as being too dark and bleak. Nationwide actually stood behind the campaign and insisted it was about awareness. However, many viewers were not on Nationwide’s side on this one.

Pepsi

According to Pepsi, their “Live For Now” ad was meant “to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding." But after it was released, it only managed to universally convince everyone that the soda company’s new commercial was terrible. The infamous ad features a group of people marching forward until they encounter a line of police. After a tense moment, Kendall Jenner is able to broker peace by giving an officer a Pepsi. The company’s push for unity rang hollow because of the blatant and forced product placement. People also didn’t take too kindly to seeing a company commercialize protests in an important era for social justice. Years later, the SNL parody has become far more beloved than the loathed commercial itself.

Nivea

More than a few companies have issued racially insensitive ads over the years. Renault infamously tried to joke about using an offensive slur to sell a car. [xref]And when Dove endorsed an ad where soap caused a black woman to turn into a white model, people were taken aback. [xref] But Nivea’s misstep was arguably worse than both of those combined. Their infamous ad featured a brunette model in all white clothing with the phrase “white is purity”. Shortly after the image went public, it was adopted by several members of racist movement online. Both the bad press and terrifying endorsement pushed Nivea to apologize and take the ad down.

Hacienda Mexican Restaurants

While we understand it’s hard for a Mexican restaurant to stand out in a crowded market, we don’t think this commercial was the way to go. The company was forced to pull its billboards back in 2011 after consumers complained about their content. In this case, Hacienda decided to compare their business model to the infamous Jonestown Massacre of 1978. The ad claimed that the restaurants were, “like a cult, with better Kool-Aid.” They also went on to tout their eating experience as being “to die for.” For some reason, people didn’t like thinking about the deaths of nearly a thousand people while enjoying Mexican cuisine. It’s not hard to see why Hacienda didn’t hesitate to get rid of these ads.

WWF

No, we’re not talking about the pro wrestling company. This controversy’s all about the World Wildlife Fund. The ad was made by a Brazilian agency the company worked with and was meant to be released outside of America. However, it didn’t take too long for U.S. commenters to get wind of it. The advertisement was created to show the horrific loss of life from a 2004 Tsunami. But that message was lost because the agency chose to use an exaggerated image of the 9/11 attacks to show how many died in the natural disaster. Shortly after people saw the ad, WWF said it “should never have been made’. Using one tragedy to talk about another only ended up upsetting double the amount of people.

Groupon

We get that edgier Super Bowl commercials tend to get more attention. However, this doesn’t excuse Groupon from diminishing the very real struggles of the Tibetan people to sell their service. The purpose of their “Save the Money” campaign was to tell consumers that they could get a taste of some far-away places right at home at a discounted Groupon rate. Outside of that commercial, the company also made light of whale extinction and rainforest conversation in other ads. But the Tibet edition received the most flack. Groupon’s fumble was so bad that even the apology they issued afterwards was criticized for not being sincere enough. The company once again showed why real struggles should never be used to sell products.