A Sinful bus advertisement showing three vibrators and the text “100 percent orgasm guarantee” has been taken down from city buses in Fredericia after complaints from residents. Experts interviewed by DR say children seeing the poster is not a problem.
The advertisement from the Danish online sex shop Sinful ran on city buses in Fredericia over the summer. DR reports that it was removed after criticism from several people in the city, who called it inappropriate and objected to children being exposed to it.
Several of the buses now carry a different Sinful motif, according to DR. The company therefore continues to advertise on the local buses, but with changed imagery.
What the experts told DR
Katrine Zeuthen, a PhD in clinical child psychology and a practicing psychoanalyst, said she sees no problem in Sinful advertising in public space, or in children seeing the poster. She noted that far more veiled sexualized material already appears in advertising, while this campaign is direct.
Zeuthen advised parents to begin by asking the child what they think the advertisement means. A simple answer, such as that it is something adults find pleasant to use, is often enough. The problem arises, she told DR, if adults refuse to talk about it or explain the function of a vibrator in detail.
Communications adviser and branding expert Sune Bang linked the reaction to a shift he dates to the past 10 to 20 years. Per Bang, Danes have become considerably more modest about sex and nudity, in a movement he described as an “Americanization” tied to content warnings on streaming platforms. He added that sex is increasingly treated as private and taboo, and that political correctness now weighs more heavily.
Complaints and regional differences
Fredericia Dagblad reported on July 30, 2026, that the advertising company withdrew the campaign after complaints from a local politician and an elderly woman, who found it inappropriate. The outlet quoted the company’s director as saying he did not want to act as a judge of taste, but felt compelled by the reaction. A separate Fredericia Dagblad article noted that the dispute reached the bus company’s board.
TV2 Nord reported on August 7, 2026, that the advertisement was removed in Fredericia but remains on buses in Aalborg. As reported by TV MIDT/VEST on July 27, 2026, a woman in the Morsø area reacted with shock to a similar Sinful bus advertisement and demanded its removal.
No regulatory ruling has been issued on the Fredericia poster. Coverage indicates the decisions were taken by the advertising company and bus operators. In a 2019 decision, Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen found that a Sinful radio commercial did not breach Danish advertising rules.
