Most of Australia’s controversial ads in the clear

Tim Burrowes

January 5, 2009 9:00

Only three of the ten most controversial advertisements of the year had the complaints upheld, the Advertising Standards Bureau has revealed.

The most complained about ad of the year, created by The Brand Shop for Kotex U tampons, featured a beaver keeping a young woman company. It received 185 complaints which were dismissed by the ASB board.

[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mxkUE5TtOFQ]

Also in the clear was the second most complained-about ad, for Domino’s pizza, featuring the character Many Toppings, with the catch phrase “Supercalafreakinawesome”. The 145 complaints that it sounded like “frickin” rather than “freakin” were also dismissed.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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3 COMMENTS

Viva la beava 5 Jan 09

I’m glad they left the beaver alone. It was a good ad.

And what could they have found against them? Mild innuendo?

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Most of Australia’s controversial ads in the clear

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