Tap to unmute
Top 20 Ads That Caused Massive Backlash
Embed
- Published on Mar 10, 2026
- When advertisements cross the line, viewers don't hesitate to complain! Join us as we examine the most controversial commercials that sparked outrage and backlash. From Tesco's Santa vaccine passport that received 5000 complaints to Booking.com's cheeky wordplay and Wrigley's nauseating "Dog Breath" spot, these ads pushed boundaries in all the wrong ways. Our countdown includes Coca-Cola's AI "Holidays Are Coming" disaster, Ryanair's tone-deaf "Jab & Go" campaign, McDonald's emotional "dead dad" Filet-o-Fish commercial, Paddy Power's blind football controversy, and the Marmite Rescue Team that animal welfare groups hated. Let us know if you think some of these adverts really should have been banned, and which you think didn't deserve the heat!
Challenge friends and family on our multiplayer Trivia!
www.watchmojo....
Have Your Idea Become A Video!
wmojo.com/suggest
Subscribe for more Brilliantly British Content:
wmojo.com/watc...
WatchMojo UK is your source for British Top 10s, covering popular shows like Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Great British Bake Off, Coronation Street, The Morning, Good Morning Britain, The Graham Norton Show, Sherlock, and more! We also cover the latest in British Movies, Music
#Advertising #BannedAds #Controversy
Which advert do you ALWAYS mute?
Top 20 Legendary F**k Ups In Live Radio
ruclips.net/video/aht95cJlOwA/video.html
Fairy 3 Second Soak - anyone lazy or stupid enough to buy this expensive type of chemical cocktail needs their head examined. And if you worry about the environment then buy this, you are an imbecile.
One advert that traumatised me as a child was an old RSPCA advert that showed a family getting a new puppy, them not training it, it getting into bins, chewing stuff up, etc... then it cuts to the Dad putting the puppy in a zipped bag and throwing it into the canal. All while being acted out as a childrens toy advert with "My Little Puppy" in bright pink at the start, some happy music and a cheery voice-over lady saying things like "My Little Puppy gets up to all sorts of fun things!". I was 7 when that came out, I'm now nearly 32, and it's stuck with me for all those years!
It's meant to imply that pets are not toys and that they need proper care and training, which I completely agree with. But to see that as a kid... bloody terrifying!
I can remember Russell Howard taking the mickey out of the Bedtime Story ad and laughing my head off when they blowtorched a teddy bear
'The slag of all snacks' was later changed to 'it'll go with anything' lol 😂
I had a pot noodle once. It was an informatuve experiende. It made me understand the sense of shame and self disgust that clients of horizontal service providers are said to experience, but without having to have penicillin.
there was an ad for Direct Line with Harvey Keitel using similar words instead of swearing. I remember reading one woman's complaint that, despite no actual swearing, it made her kid say the actual swear words. I don't think the kids pick up swearing that way.
Swearing has become the norm anyway. From comedians who can't deliver a punchline that doesn't involve a fk, to movies where all the actions scenes involve people fking all over the place, to people in the street greeting each other with a fk or, as I witnessed a charming lady outside a town centre hostelry at lunchtime once loudly proclaim "If I'm a fking fat slag, what are you?"
One simply cannot move for people fking these days.
Hard to believe that the Tango ad is34 years old! Makes me feel REALLY REALLY old.
People who complain about adverts to actual officials have way too much time on their hands
They also give publicity to the very thing they're complaining about and, as all publicity is good publicity, cause more advertisers to deliberately produce shite adverts.
The government seem to think terrifying children is the way to get people to stop doing things - I remember dreading those 'think!' adverts 😂
The marmite ad was hilarious. People who complained obviously had no sense of humour!
Exactly!
Everyone LOVES MARMITE. End of.
@Foebane72hear hear!xx
That is genius tbh. I've never seen it.
I'd argue anyone complaining about ANYTHING that they aren't being physically forced to watch have warped priorities. I can think of far better things to complain about than anything shown on TV or appearing online.
The hooked ad was brilliant...
Most of the adverts on this list I remember seeing on the telly
Pot Noodle, class. Marmite, the fact they even got Michael Burke to do the 999 style voice over. Brilliant.
999 on 21.35pm on Tuesday is still the greatest comedy of all time with legendary Michel Burke
15:28 the only thing I saw in that Nationwide Advert was Dominic playing a character which I thought was inspired by the Nigel Farage’s controversy when ‘NatWest’ one time, shut down his bank account. I found this ad, 😂.
If your bank got shut down, did you get your money? Like was it insured like it is in the US? Or did you just lose it?
5:21 I find it kinda funny lol. I'm American too, but I get the joke.
Loved the marmite ad... Can't believe people complained...
The McDonald's Favourites ad. Was that ad trying to piss off Behzinga?
I survived watching Eric Morecambe "happy-slapping" Ernie Wise.
honestly the KFC advert getting complained about showing bad manners is the most British thing ever
And rightly so. It was fucking disgusting.
They took it well. I think
I don't even remember some of these ads
Top 20 UK road saftey adverts next please
Aw.. Don't go giving WMJ another reason to include Jimmy Savile in a list ffs.
@frankbrodie5168I don't care who does the video in my opinion I'm curious to see what UK road saftey adverts they would include and what would be their number 1
@rockfan2627 I nominate Joe and Petunia's motoring safety ad. The stars of the Coastguard ad and the "Don't leave your crap all over the countryside" adverts finally got their comeupance by skidding to their deaths on bald tyres
The UK road safety ads were tame in comparison to the Irish ones that were more like a scene from Final Destination and were shown in the middle of the afternoon. I still suffer from PTSD after booking into a Dublin hotel, turning on the TV and being treated to a "Pay attention or pay the price" piece of total trauma😂
@raithrover1976I agree their the island road saftey adverts are traumatising especially the pay attention and pay the price adverts the first one with the teenage boy crossing the road got me but then after the second one with the young mother and her little boy just always traumatising me each time I see it
I literally fumed with anger when the "Holidays Are Coming" ad was brought up 😭😭😭.
"Fuming with anger" not "fumed with anger"
@iaincowell9747 But, it's past tense. Isn't it?
@iaincowell9747No. "Fumed" there is correct, "literally" on the other hand....
10:40 Crawling from the record. 😂
12:40 A better tagline would be "For best results, put back on the shelf."
Welcome back, I've missed your amazing videos. I usually try to read the source Materials prior to the adaptation, just to compare the two. The original is typically more detailed.
I love the booking one. I like to shout it but with using the certain other word. 😂
How about banning Funeral Adverts?
Oh, yes please. "I've arranged to be taken away in a wheelie bin, so that my children who never visit me can piss my savings up the wall when I'm finally found dead beside my one bar electric fire with my cat eating my face."
Making fun of car accidents? You should see the Allstate Mayhem ads we have. 😂
The booking one is my favourite 😂😂😂
"You got it BOOKING right!" Lol okay that was funny.
The Go compare one was a parody of the old 999 programme with Michael Buerk with it's dramatic reconstructions
I literally got an LED face mask ad before I started to watch this video haha
The Wrigleys dog breath advert terrified me as a child, no joke. I hope that the dog wasn't harmed during the making of the advert.
I would imagine it wasn't a real dog.
Oh dear. Please tell me you aren't actually this naive. SFX, mate.
Don't worry, they just forced a small child into a dog costume. No harm done!
At No.4, the KFC, isn't that Lisa George aka Beth from Corrie?
Interesting list as always!
Funny how fast food ads have been banned from tv pre watershed, but are ok on radio.
People need to get a life.
😮😮😮😮
19:19 I have a severe gag reflex to people throwing up, and yeah, that Wrigleys ad kinda triggered it 🤢
Gillian McKeith is also into vaccine denial? She should go to America and join her mentor, Wakefield.
I never liked her. Shame about Liam Neeson, though.
The irony of the banning of junk food adverts from pre-watershed TV is that the audience that they are trying to protect are more likely to be watching streaming media, which is not covered by the ban.
THE L.E.D AD WAS THAT SONIA FROM EASTENDERS?
Next to that WTF? McD's ad (giving it the #14 spot was very kind!) making you think their junk food is the answer to grieving, a recent Cadbury's Whole Nut commercial made me feel just as sick & stunned in reaction. At first glance, you are misled over the actual subject matter with most of it's time spent between a sick old man & his daughter/care nurse, until the product is revealed in it's fleeting last moments. Worse yet, the important fact that Cadbury's actually sponsors UK Alzheimer's research was represented with a 'blink & you'll miss it' display of small text compared to the HUGE Whole Nut logo/slogan, which consumed most of the screen as a glaring distraction. This inappropriate method in plugging such matters to sell chocolate - as it's top priority - proves that present day media & the companies who attempt to plug their garbage are all tone deaf. There are no signs of any improvement either.
4:33 I absolutely love this advert
Would you say it's OK, or would you rather have marmalade?
@DBCDude01Orange marmalade? It's disgusting. Marmite is also disgusting. Both for the same reason. The strongly bitter taste of burnt. Marmite tastes like how burnt hair smells. 🤮🤮🤮 Lime marmalade is nice spread very thinly though.
Who complained? Geez I could understand tango because yeah we all went round in school slapping each other shouting you've been tango'd but the rest are just people clutching their pearls
How about banning gambling ads off TV and RUclips I'm fed up with seeing them and they are not good for people?
Adver - TY - ments??
Honestly I agree with people complaining about ads where you have to hear people eating or talking with their mouths full of food. The Magnum ice lolly ads in the UK have made this some weird kind of selling point for years, with a ridiculous chomping sound in every ad. It's icky.
Eating noises and food prep squelching/crunching sounds make me want to vomit. I think it was Lurpak who did a long noisy food prep noise advert that used to literally put me off eating altogether. Then there was the Dave promo about some fat New York bloke eating his way round every bit of greasy flabby meat he could find that repulsed me so bad I ended up barely eating for months till I ended up in hospital with anemia. Every time I went to eat something, his image popped into my head and put me off. I didn't have an eating disorder but a vicious good memory for things that had grossed me out. The Magnum one you mention goes through me on a visceral level. I can hear it now just thinking about it. Makes me think of broken teeth. Can't stand close ups of people's gobs either, especially not with food dripping out. Nor slobbering chewing sounds. Nor people licking and suckling on their dirty fingers or hands. I don't like close-ups of food at all. Wet slimy or greasy...yuck.
I don't know if I'm the weirdo or not. I only know what's in my head.
The mcdonalds ad should have been pulled for being misleading. Whose favourite burger is the filet o fish?
My dad’s 🤣🤦🏼♀️ (genuinely it is)
Most of these weren't worth complaining about, especially the global warming one.
Jab and Go😂. I can't remember that, but it's funny. The marmite as was great. It was just a send up of these fly on the wall documentaries about the RSPCA and SSPCA. So was the blind football one😂
All of the reporting around the referendum was patronising and manipulative so the ad with the woman made no difference.
I'm m on number eight. I'm fully expecting some Iron Bru ads in the top eight!
I have not watched TV for over 10 year's I hear that sanitary products are no longer using blue fake blood as per complaints that is should be red and so they now use it. teenage girl's watching in front of dad's and brother's will have cringe factor go up a thousand fold.
Some unexpected remarkable 'don't be ridiculous' decisions by the ASA.
No surprise the Pot Noodle ad got pulled for violence though. You can't show the truth that women can be as violent as men despite the narrative we're constantly fed. Watching some of the 'Classic' versions of soaps is remarkable for that.
Can't wait to see which ones snowflakes found offensive... I wasn't disappointed lol!
Nawwated by David... 😕
Hooked is SUPPOSED to be that though to scare you not to do it
Wheres the irn bru ads? Im sure both the "reluctant birth" AND "almost swearing OAPs" got banned for filth too!😂😂😂 lets face it; we Brits LOVE a saucy ad😂
"Discrimitory" is NOT a word. You meant "Discriminatory".
I like the cola adverts
How about the vast majority of British adverts being racist insofar as they do not represent the true demographics of the country?
Nothing is enough for me to crave a bottle of Pepsi. RANK.
Still infinitely better than Coke……
"People"?
10:40 "crawling from the record"??? Jesus, WatchMojoUK hire someone who can speak, PLEASE.
Goodness gracious, a lot of people in the U.K. need to take a chill pill and stay away from "helicopter parenting"! I see a very small handful of ads that crossed the line, but not all of them are bad. Sheesh!
Pretty much all of these just make me miss the adverts in the UK. Australian ads are just a lot of obnoxious shouting and some abysmal attempts at humour.
6:00 onward...
That problem is entirely adult based climate change and global warming is horrifying and we've just passed it on to the next generation... as usual! Except, this time it's all documented.
The Asbestos scandal is huge and, explains the desire for corporations to lie based on the shareholders making the most out of people trying to live a normal life..
Look at climate change and
So a marmite ad annoys and traumatises people but the rspca ads showing animals in dumpsters don't? Wow lol.
All of this just shows how overly-sensitive people can be.
#15 was stating facts
Ok miliband calm down, Starmer will give you a kiddie to play with, we all know why we won't get our enquiry into the grooming gangs
Yes, the narrator appears to have been living under the rock for most of this century if they haven't seen the effects that ignoring climate change has had on the world.
So you really are just making things up at this point. Most of these are not bans at all and the rest are nonsense. A couple of people complaining does not constitute a ban.
People are so weak and pathetic 💯
We don’t need to ban the adverts of junk foods - we need to ban parents who can’t use such a simple two letter word on their kids - that word is NO!! My own parents used it, and it worked a treat on both me and my sister. They should try it someday 🙄
Obviously the anti smoking ad was made by people who have never smoked. I smoke. I'll go out to the pub and I smoke while I'm there, then go home. I might not go out to a pub again for 2,3,4,5 or even a whole week, and guess what? I don't have a cigarette. When the first lock down came in, I didn't smoke until my local pub opened back up again, what was it, about 90 odd days? When I went out on the opening night, I had to buy another packet of cigarettes because the ones in my packet I still had had dried out and were foul.
I don't like the adverts with women talking about their bladder leaks, but I'm not going to complain about it.
I'd like to know how many people who complained about any of these adverts also complained about the others. Serial complainers are a real issue. Bearing in mind that there are 65 million people in the UK and most of these ads had fewer than 1000 complaints, they all seem arbitrary, in my opinion. So why are we obsessed with the opinions of a few hundred people who hate everything and everybody?
Have you heard of search engines where you can find out about how many complained or did you just want to grandstand🧐
I do actually agree with you though 😂✌🏻
I'm pissed that we didn't get more lewd Pot Noodle ads because of the complainers.
@CashelOconnellyWatchmojo is telling you how many people complained on many of these.
@micmac274oi don’t argue with me. I didn’t make the point about how many people complain😂
The global warming add was pure propaganda. It deserved to be banned (but you didn't say whether it was)
Whereas the NHS smoking ad was brilliant. Need more ones like that . That's proved science , unlike the Anthropogenic Global Warming Theory
all shite.
Only the first 20 should have been banned.
To be quite honest pro-life people should be angry all the time because they are nothing but selfish entitled people that won't victims of whatever woman goes through to just suffer and bear it that's why the pro-life movement sucks because they only care about what's going on with the baby they don't care about how the mother is suffering
You are literally trying to use Empathy as a Tool to beat People around the head for not being Ok with MURDER. What is wrong with you?
What a boring voice the narrator has
The one I hated was a Carlsberg ad. A husband and wife having marriage counseling and the wife says he makes my skin crawl. When the counselor asks him what he does,exports Carlsberg lager,the counselor stands up and hits him. The wife smirks.
Imagine if that was the other way around.
Brits: *Oh those Americans are so high strung with their morals. Clutching their pearls at the littlest things.*
Also Brit: Talking whilst eating? Slapped by Orange Man? (pre Trump era, orange man) Sweet ads?!?! COMPLAINNNNNNNNN
As an American, I thought the McDonald ad was that the boys dad was Ronald McDonald and that he was "always at work" lol
It’s not surprising that a yank doesn’t see an issue with that kfc advert. I’m guessing you can only eat with your gob wide open, and can’t shut up even for a few seconds 🙄
I rather die fat than be a skinny shit
People who complained about these ads clearly had nothing better to do and how is showing junk food after 9 gonna tackle obesity?
I wonder how many people who were coerced into getting the 'vaccine ' were actually well enough to go on holiday Or even still alive