Scary zombies and gross kids: The most-complained about ads for 2025
Australian TV audiences complained about 230 different advertisements throughout the year, but it was ads featuring a “zombie proof” electric vehicle from Kia, and a disgusting nose-picking kid that needs a dousing in Dettol that attracted the most ire.
Kia Australia’s “zombie proof” electric vehicle advertisement topped Ad Standards’ list of the most complained about advertisements, with 86 different people taking issue with the “frightening imagery”.
One complaint noted that “zombie movies typically have an adults-only classification and are not suitable for children, however this ad is prime-time during the tennis.” The same complaint also questioned the appropriateness of showing “apocalypse-type adverts to an audience that has survived extreme natural disasters”.
The disgusting Lyka ad featuring a pile of dog crap definitely has to be in the mix.
Feeling sick one weekend, I binged a series on one of the streaming apps and they played it ad nauseum, like every 10 minutes. By the end of the weekend, I must of seen it over 100 times and even now just thinking about it makes me feel like I want to be sick.
Can I mention the current Youi ads that, not for anything violent or disgusting, just ‘flogged’ to death.
100%!
I won’t name which streaming app it is, but I have noticed that one of them runs mid program ad breaks as frequently as FTA TV does. Which is fine but it does my head in when they only seem to run the one same ad of the day or the same promo for another program on their platform over and over again.
I would love to see some of the R&F reports they send to the client post campaign, reach of 100,000 and average frequency of 111 LOL.