This humorous but risque condom commercial focusses on a cute boy asking his mother for permission to do something, and while he's glad to hear her sounds of agreement, the "yes yes yes" from the mom comes from a whole other place.

This commercial for Microsoft's XBOX gaming platform might not seem extreme to any actual gamer, but the very idea of a commuter shooting down people around him drew attention to the inherent violence these games encourage.

It's a quirky commercial, showing that Microsoft's new operating system XP is a highly secure one, but the humorous fallouts of the ad were unintended: with people saying it implies that Windows users don't have sex or that Windows interferes at the most inopportune moments.

Quite simply, deemed far too hot for television.

And understandably so. (God bless the Internet, though.)

This commercial for Sales Genie used awfully over the top stereotypes and accents, depicting Chinese people using animated Pandas. Despite it having one Superbowl airing, the ad came in for widespread criticism and was a major PR-disaster for the company.

One of the most frequently insensitive advertisers, Groupon kicks off this ad with Cuba Gooding Jr talking about how whales are dwindling and that somebody should save them, before saying "but it's more fun to watch them jump" and selling whale-watching deals on Groupon. Ugh.

If you thought the whale commercial was bad, wait till you watch this. Timothy Hutton talks about the people of Tibet and about how their whole existence is in jeopardy, but that "they still whip up an amazing fish curry." Just inexcusably awful.

The idea of the "Don't let your child be educated by TV" is a valiant one, but this ad crossed the line of shock by making a real young girl act like a stripper. The Romanian ad went too far, prompting abuse from child rights organisations, parents and the media.

This commercial about a child crying because of having lost his father to smoking seemed like an effective piece of shocking advertising till it was revealed that the tears were real, that the child was filmed after the advertisers implied to the child that his mother had died. It's an inhuman piece of exploitation.