- As it turns out, controversy
doesn't always sell. - I'll get you a Bud Lite. - Advertising, when done right, can lead a company to take
a huge chunk of the market. But if done wrong, it can
have the opposite effect. In a noisy world where everyone
is trying to get attention, sometimes it's very possible to go too far to get your message across. And these ads did just that. These are 10 controversial
banned commercials. Number one is Hyundai, Pipe Job. In April of 2013, advertising
agency Innocean Worldwide aired a 60-second spot
in the United Kingdom on behalf of Hyundai for the new environmentally-friendly ix35, which had 100% water emissions. But the spot was aired on television without Hyundai's permission for just one day in late April, in an effort to gather
feedback from viewers. And oh boy, did they ever get feedback. What they got was a massive
outpouring of hate from viewers who were deeply disturbed and upset by the ad's subject matter. The ad used a man's attempted suicide via running his exhaust
into his sealed car as a way to communicate that the emissions were safe to breathe. Death, that makes me wanna buy a car. After slowly accepting
his fate, he falls asleep only to wake up at night, having spent most of the day in his car, and shows him sadly
walking out of his garage into his house. The horribly insensitive nature of this ad cost the agency big
money to have it aired, and then badly damaged
Hyundai's reputation anyways. Here's an idea. Don't use death when trying to sell a car. Problem solved. Number two is Red Bull,
Red Bull Gives You Wings. - Yes, but Red Bull gives you wings. - Wings? Why on Earth would you
need wings on a ship? Stupidest thing I ever heard. - In September of 2013,
Red Bull ran a cartoon clip that featured ship crewmen loading a large crate of
Red Bull onto the Titanic. This can only end badly. The ship's captain then appears to demand that he stop loading the crate because they only drink
champagne on the ship. That's when the crewman explains that Red Bull gives you wings, but the captain dismisses this and replies, "Why on Earth
would you need wings on a ship?" Viewers of this ad in the United Kingdom were rightly offended by the ad's attempt to make light of the 1912 disaster that killed more than 1,500 people. But it got worse because
the Titanic Heritage Trust, along with family members
of Titanic survivors, also called for its ban. Ultimately, the British
Advertising Standards Authority decided not to investigate. But justice against the
brand did come later. In October of 2014, Red Bull
settled a lawsuit against them for falsely advertising
that their energy drink would give you wings, and agreed to pay nearly $15 million. Honestly, I don't agree with
what they did with this ad, but if you're stupid enough to think that an energy drink will
actually give you wings, you've got the problem. Number three is Wrigley's, Dog Breath. In March of 2003, Wrigley's
decided to cancel the airing of their crazy 40-second commercial for the new Excite brand of gum. This is because the ad shows
a seemingly-hungover man wake up and proceed to
vomit an entire dog, complete with impossible
mouth stretching CGI and a disgusting wet
dog shaking off saliva. Well, I'mma go buy a pack right now. After the angry dog
slides out of his mouth, he dumps a few of the
mint-flavored pieces of gum into his mouth before his
girlfriend comes downstairs to kiss him goodbye. In the ad's original airing time slot, it frightened and nauseated any children unlucky enough to catch it during their favorite shows. Timing, people, it's all about timing. Even after moving it to a
post-9:00 p.m. time slot to avoid the young kids, Wrigley's ultimately decided that there was just no saving it. At the time, it set British records for the number of complaints
that the ITC received. Wet dog and barf, not how you sell gum. Number four is Mountain Dew, Felicia the Goat Part Three. - And we got them all lined up. Nail this little sucker. Come on, which one is he? Point to him. - [Goat] It's me. - On March 20, 2013, Mountain Dew released
their first commercial as part of a trilogy that they had created in collaboration with
the controversial rapper and music video director
Tyler the Creator. The ad series, titled Felicia the Goat, featured an aggressive talking goat that was voiced by Tyler. In the ads, Felicia is seen assaulting a waitress at a restaurant, then escaping from the police, and finally standing in a police line-up with several black men, where he threatens the injured waitress as she struggles with her
decision to point him out. You sure it was me? Mmhm. The last commercial was
released on April 24, 2013, and a week later on May 1, an
article by Dr. Boyce Watkins, slamming the ad for being
racist and misogynistic, went viral and started a media frenzy. Mountain Dew ended up
apologizing for the ad and canceled it for obvious reasons. Interestingly enough, though, Tyler the Creator was not sorry, and he said if it was up to him he would've left he piece up. Number five is McDonald's, Signs. ♫ We are all, we are all shining stars - After hitting some
less-than-desirable sales numbers in the United States, McDonald's attempted to grab some good
old-fashioned brownie points with Americans, with
their Signs commercial. The ad, which aired on January 11, 2015, during the 72nd Golden
Globe Award ceremony, featured a series of photographs of McDonald's sign marquees, with various congratulatory
and respectful messages displayed on them. But it wasn't really what you think. These messages referenced things like the Boston Marathon bombing, 9/11, the trapped Chilean miners, as well as birthdays and
a birth announcement, just to name some. All of this was done to portray the brand's closeness
to American communities, kind of like they're one of the family. However, it came off about as well as showing up to a random
family dinner uninvited. Golden Globes viewers took to social media to complain that the ad was
just tasteless and shameless, and the ad was of course
pulled immediately. Everybody's always
offended about everything. I mean, this might not have
been in the best taste, but give me McNuggets any day, baby. They tasty. Number six is AshleyMadison.com, Looking For Someone Other Than My Wife. ♫ I'm lookin' for someone
other than my wife ♫ Other than my wife - In 2015, AshleyMadison.com, a popular online dating service geared toward already-married individuals seeking secret relationships, aired a 30-second commercial
with a catchy little jingle about men wanting to cheat on their wives. The ad happily depicts a man singing, "I'm looking for someone
other than my wife. "Ashley Madison is right." This, while another man strums his iPad and looks through different
women on the site. For obvious reasons, this
commercial got a lot of complaints from offended viewers who really weren't too
impressed with the message, nor the sexism of the ad's
solely male-targeted audience. The ad ended up being banned in Australia after 138 complaints were issued to the Australian
Advertising Standards Bureau. But in a twist of karma, AshleyMadison.com was breached by hackers that leaked all of its
users' personal data in July of the same year. Karma is a thing of beauty. Number seven is Qiaobi Laundry Detergent, Change Starts with Qiaobi. (playful exotic music) Qiaobi, a laundry
detergent brand in China, aired a 50-second spot in April of 2016, depicting a black man being washed and turned into a pale white Asian man. Yep, nothing offensive about that. The racist commercial caused
huge amounts of backlash on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, and was also slammed by various
American news media outlets. The commercial starts like this, with an attractive Chinese
woman doing laundry, who is then approached by a black painter who is covered in paintbrush marks. The man then attempts to seduce her, only to have a detergent
packet placed in his mouth by the woman, who then forces him into
the washing machine. Once the washing cycle is complete, he emerges as a clean, white, Chinese man to her immediate delight. With its blatant depiction
of the African race as dirty, Qiaobi responded to the
criticism by pulling the ad and apologizing for it and any offense it might've caused. Does the company not discuss these ads before putting them out, or do they just like, verbal diarrhea? Like, put it out, okay, see what happens. Number eight is Snickers, Kiss. On February 4, 2007,
during the Super Bowl, Snickers decided to air a 60-second spot depicting two mechanics who kiss and then immediately
question their manliness. In the ad, one of the two mechanics leans over the open hood of a car, opens a Snickers bar,
and starts to eat it, while the other mechanic
starts eating the other end, and their lips meet in the middle. The ending showed them trying
to regain their dignity by doing something macho, which happened to be
tearing out their chest hair and screaming. Not only was this ad
stupid and ridiculous, but it was also really
offensive to the LGBT community, who claimed that the ad made Snickers appear to be homophobic. It was such a failure that it was pulled from TV and websites, and in 2011 readers of AdAge voted this as the second worst Super
Bowl commercial ever. The brand tried to explain
that it was all in good fun, but nobody was buying it. Or probably Snickers for
a while, for that matter. Number nine is Booking.com, Booking Right. - [Announcer] You've got it right. You've got it booking right. Because it doesn't get
any better than this. - Booking.com's commercial
completed the amazing feat of angering tons of parents
and securing 2,345 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority. They did this in early 2015 by replacing blatantly-intended
vulgar swear words with the word booking. In the 60-second spots,
several Booking.com customers are seen arriving at their
vacation hotel resorts, to find that they had chosen well. But then the ad's narrator exclaims that they "got it booking right." The substitution for swearing
continues in lines like, "Look at that booking view," and "This is exactly
what we booking needed." Now, this ad is actually quite funny, and it might've been
appreciated a bit more if it hadn't been
scheduled to air in cinemas before kids movies like Night
at the Museum and Paddington. It also aired on television
during Harry Potter movies and other family programs, which just really angered parents. Damn, that was a booking good idea, but that was booking stupid. And number 10 is Groupon, Tibet. - The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy. But they still whip up
an amazing fish curry. - On February 6, 2011, eCommerce
marketplace Groupon.com aired a 30-second commercial
during the Super Bowl, which cost them $3 million. The ad featured actor Timothy Hutton speaking about mountainous Tibet, one of the most beautiful
places in the world, and how the people of Tibet are in trouble because their culture is in jeopardy. But after this engaging moment, the commercial suddenly switches to him sitting in a Tibetan
restaurant in Chicago, as his fish curry that he
got for half-price on Groupon is being served to him. The sudden tonal shift from Tibetan problems are
what's really important, to whatever, you can get
food for cheap on our site, was not appreciated by
the 111 million viewers, many of whom felt the ad was insensitive and insulting to Tibetan refugees. After waves of backlash from
offended social media users, Groupon issued a formal apology
and pulled the commercial. Speaking of Groupon, do
people even use that anymore? I mean, I like half-priced sushi just as much as everyone else, but I feel like it got old. I want to give a big thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video. They have an unmatched
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