Laura K. brought our attention to these ads with not-so-subliminal sexual content (via haha.nu). Some of them are so-not-so-subliminal that they may not be safe for work.
NEW (Dec. ’09)! Fresh “shaved” turkey (from The Consumerist):
Ad for a film festival in Barcelona:
NEW (Apr. ’10)! Tom M. sent along a photo of a billboard, advertising Penthouse in Sofia, Bulgaria, with the same visual trick:
Thanks, Laura!
Also in subliminal and non-subliminal sex in advertising, see here and here.
Taylor D. sent in these two ads (found here):
Glenn R. sent us a link to these Caramba Tequila ads (via):
Comments 19
Le — June 27, 2008
Ugh gross!!!
Interrobang — June 27, 2008
I like the "Rive Nord undergarments" one; that's actually funny, understated, and appropriate. (I mean, after all, it's an underwear ad that doesn't show a human model, for goodness' sake. How tasteful and understated is that?)
I don't even get the Harley-Davidson one underneath it. That's supposed to be a what? The Fa one is a bit too subtle for me; saying it's "non-subtle sex" seems to be reaching, at least compared to a bunch of the other specimens on display. I'm going to go with the axiom that "anything's a phallic symbol if it's longer than it's wide" (sing it with me), but it just looks like a bottle of Fa tipped slightly at an angle; at least if I ever saw a penis that looked anything like that, I'd scream and run...
RRsafety — June 28, 2008
All of those look like the design folks ran out of idea and said, "I know let's do a phallic or a vagina thing."
That may have been edgy 30 years ago, now it is just stupid.
dreikin — June 28, 2008
Whatever you may think of the topic, a number of them are still quite clever. Some of them do seem to have a related point, though - the text on the balloon one says "Stop the virus. Not the party".
Anonymous — June 28, 2008
I am so in love with that film festival ad.
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dottywine — January 5, 2010
I really do not "get" some of them and how they involve sex. Like the book one or the shaved turkey. And some of them I see look like a penis if you squint and think about it long enough.
Courtney — May 4, 2010
@Gwen, May I ask where the first image came from? It's the cover of the Something something something Journal, but I can't tell what. It's beautiful, and I'd like to know what it is... leather or something, I suppose.
Baxter — June 3, 2010
OH GOD EWWWWWWW
lyssa — July 13, 2010
I don't like any of these :C
Seeing one randomly would be nice for a laugh, but seeing one after another, I just got uncomfortable...
Spark — March 11, 2011
Wow. Some of these are lame. The best ones are tongue-in-cheek, like the gay football one. The Brazil one, especially, is meant to call out the sexuality as comical.
Of course, what's most interesting to me is how hung up some commenters are.
Landen — July 22, 2011
But most of these are advertising for something sexual in nature, like condoms or porn. You sort of expect them to imply sex while advertising sex. Some of them are ridiculous, like the "shaved turkey," but for the most part they're using sex to advertise sex.
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