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Depending on what research you choose to believe, the average person is exposed to 247, 850 or 3,000 ads per day.

In any case, we can all agree that there are way too many for one person to focus on. So it's not surprising that advertisers try to sear their messages into your psyche by offering a taste of the forbidden. But playing that game can be a risk. If a company runs afoul of societal standards, they can land their brand on the wrong side of public opinion.

Our curiosity about the risqué led us to compile a gallery of banned ads to see if they violate our readers' standards. For a few, the biggest shock may be that these ads were banned in the first place.

Ads Banned for Being Too Racy

    Britain's Advertising Standards Authority banned this bathroom-friendly ad for being offensive. Designer Tanner Krolle claimed the couple couldn't be having sex because the man's trousers were still on. (That would be news to anyone who lost their virginity at the prom.)

    Adpunch.com

    Skechers pulled this ad after a nurses's group complained it advanced a negative stereotype of their profession. Yet similar ads with Christina Aguilera appearing as teacher and student and cop and criminal continued to run. (Why Skechers overlooked the always titillating Hot Lunch Lady we'll never know.)

    ad-rag.com

    By digitally modifying a model for the purpose of exploiting her sexuality, this Bicardi ad violated the Canadian Code of Advertising. (Maybe the Canucks were really offended because the ad implied there's something better than beer.)

    bestrejectedadvertising.com

    This cheeky ad campaign for the Washlet, a heated toilet seat, ran in various mainstream magazines but was banned from Times Square when a judge agreed the advertisement interfered with the religious mission of the Times Square Church below. (Apparently, only God and King Kong are allowed to smile down on New York City.)

    adage.com

    Once New York's Metro Transit Authority realized "get brain" was slang for oral sex, this poster was banned from all city vehicles. (We can relate to the confusion. The model appears to be offering up something entirely different.)

    CNN

    McDonald publicly apologized for this ad, claiming it had not been aware that the phrase "I'd hit it" is often used to express sexual interest. (We're going to give fast food chain the benefit of the doubt here since the "it" in question is a double cheeseburger. Now if it had been their baked apple pie ...)

    wikipedia.com

    This poster for the movie "Rules of Attraction" was banned in America for using stuffed animals to, well, turn on a nation of plushie fetishists.

    bestrejectedadvertising.com

    Concerns as to just where the model's thumb was headed resulted in this print ad getting the thumbs down from British censors. (And the thumbs up from 13-year-olds boys everywhere.)

    bestrejectedadvertising.com

    Mattel demanded The Body Shop remove this self-esteem poster featuring a rubenesque anti-Barbie because it was insulting to the real Barbie. The ad was actually pulled from some stores in the United States after some people found this doll offensive for different reasons. (It's interesting to note that no matter how much she gorges herself Barbie can't seem to grow nipples.)

    bestrejectedadvertising.com

    Calvin Klein has been playing with teenage sexuality ever since a 15-year old Brooke Shields declared there was nothing between herself and her Calvins. But this mid-90's campaign for CK hit too close to home -- the basement rec room in fact -- and was pulled.

    Calvin Klein