Beaver Staring Tampon Commercial Angers Many

A television commercial staring a beaver, a pizza and male impotence has topped the list of the commercials we hate.

A list released by the Advertising Standards Bureau found the hotly debated Kotex U tampon ad showing a woman going about daily activities with a beaver in tow was the most complained about ad in 2008.

The ad, which received more than 185 complaints, tells its audience, “You only have one of them, so look after it” and featured the animal which viewers understood to be a reference to female genitalia.

A Domino’s pizza ad in which a character named Many Toppins uses the made-up term “Supercalafreakinawesome” was the second most complained-about ad for the year.

“While `freakin’ is not particularly terrible, on the ad, it sounds more like `friggin’ and was repeated as such by my four-year old,” one of the 145 people who complained said.

The controversial Advanced Medical Institute billboard ad also prompted more than 110 offended people to complain to the ASB, making it the third most objected to.

The billboard ad was one of three on the list which were discontinued after being found in breach of the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ code of ethics.

Despite orders to replace the `want-longer-lasting-sex?’ billboards by September, many were simply covered with “censored” stickers.

Women’s Forum Australia spokeswoman Melinda Tankard Reist said families were very upset by the company’s outdoor campaign.

“They’re forcing parents to have conversations with their children when they might have preferred to have waited until they were more mentally developed and it was the appropriate time.”

Also in the list was an Inghams television ad which suggested there was “something seriously wrong” with people who didn’t like chicken, and a pamphlet for the Tell the Truth Coalition which featured images of aborted fetuses.

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