We're sure ad execs have many wonderful talents, but there's one quality we particularly revere -- the ability to connect any product, be it a soft drink or a mop, to the female form.

The approach is obviously a successful one, as there's a constant barrage of ads featuring sexy ladies, who oftentimes are sporting serious boobage. But while sexuality as a sales tool is commonplace, there are certain advertising efforts that push it to the limits.

We've previously highlighted ads that went over the line, so now we give you ones that barely made the cut. And we mean barely.


Racy Ads

    Thanks to PETA's efforts, gratuitous celebrity nudity and animal activism now go together like bacon and eggs.

    PETA

    Is this some sort of post-feminist feminism? Exploitation maybe? Or just a nice brassiere-enhanced rack? While gawking, we forgot the questions.

    Wonderbra

    Anyone who spends a lot of time on the Internet knows that when it comes to advertising, American Apparel brought the sexy early and keeps bringing it often. This one features porn star Lauren Phoenix showing Web surfers everywhere the proper way to rock tube socks.

    American Apparel

    Gladly.

    Sexy Advertisements

    JBS has based their whole men's underwear advertising campaign around the concept that men don't want to look at other men in any state of undress. We approve. (Notice there were no Abercrombie & Fitch ads on this list.)

    Adspace

    Due to heavy airbrushing, these rumps are about at as real as the drawn-in butterflies. But wouldn't it be nice?

    Fashion rat

    This promo poster, currently blanketing subway stations and bus stops of major cities everywhere, cheats by bragging about just how racy it is. But it does make you want to check out the show.

    CW

    Controversy-courting Web hosting service Go Daddy lampooned the nipple-gate backlash in this top-heavy Super Bowl spot.

    youtube

    In perhaps the strangest ad to ever titillate, this TV spot for a Canadian convenience store has two scantily clad lesbians making out at the base of a tree. The tree then interrupts their heavy petting, so they call it a pervert, before hacking it with axes until it spews orange juice into a cup. (We can't make this stuff up.)

    liveleak.com

    Tom Ford ads never beat around the bush, so to speak, and the only way this one could be less subtle is if they forgot to add the label.

    Bestrejectedadvirtising.com



... and the ads that crossed the line:

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