A Sinful advertisement showing three vibrators and promising a “100 percent orgasm guarantee” has been taken off city buses in Fredericia after local complaints.
DR reports that the poster was displayed on the back of a city bus in the town. It has since been replaced with a different motif from the same company.
The removed advert showed three vibrators floating on a purple and pink cloud. According to DR, the campaign started a debate over the summer about what belongs in public space, with several local residents calling the image inappropriate.
Palle Dahl, who sits on Fredericia City Council for the Denmark Democrats, is among the critics. He told DR the poster was very inappropriate, and that people who want to see such material should seek it out themselves. He added that the municipality pays for the buses, which are free to use.
Karsten Byrgesen, a former Fredericia councillor and current first alternate for Borgernes Parti to the Folketing, also entered the debate. Per DR, he said he became offended after stopping behind the bus and later shared his reaction in a Facebook post. He said he was offended on behalf of parents who must explain the image to their children.
The criticism was reported locally before the poster came down. Fredericia Avisen wrote that a city councillor had attacked the sex toy ads on the city buses and wanted them gone. Fredericia Dagblad reported that the ad was taken down after upsetting a local politician and an elderly woman.
Advertising firm calls the swap a courtesy
Out of Home Media sells advertising space on the buses for local operators, including in Fredericia. Director Henrik Sørensen told DR the company noticed that a couple of people in the town did not like the poster, and changed it to another motif relatively quickly. He described the switch as a courtesy to accommodate those who objected, and said the new Sinful advert is slightly less provocative.
The vibrator motif also ran on buses elsewhere in Denmark. TV 2 Nord reported that the poster appeared in Aalborg, where a local woman said it did not belong on a city bus. According to DR, the poster was swapped out only in Fredericia.
At Sinful, Amina Jenayah, who holds the title of intimacy expert, rejects the claim that the advert is inappropriate in public space. She told DR the campaign is meant to open conversations about pleasure, bodies, sex and sexuality. She said there is a need to bring the subject down to a level where it feels less dangerous.
Jenayah said the company is not interested in offending anyone and follows the existing rules for advertising. She added that the product and sexuality itself can be difficult for some people to handle, which can make the material feel provocative. That effect, she said, is never intentional.
