Advertisements featuring zombies, a nose-picking child, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rude gesture topped the list of Australia’s annual roll-call of the commercials that got viewers talking and complaining in 2025.

The industry run-regulator, Ad Standards, logged nearly 5,000 complaints across 252 ads this year, and found that 79 breached the code of Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), a national body for advertisers based in Sydney.

At the top of the list was a series of ads from Kia Australia promoting its electric SUVs as “zombie-proof”. The campaign drew 86 complaints, most from viewers who said its undead imagery could frighten children when broadcast during family viewing hours.

The Ad Standards Community Panel ruled the ads were not “overly scary or graphic”, but one version was found to breach motor vehicle advertising rules for depicting a remote parking assist feature in a way “likely to contravene road rules”, according to ABC News.

Reactions on the YouTube video however, were completely opposite.

“This might be the first car advert I’ve watched all the way through,” said one person, while another said it was “the first commercial I have enjoyed in decades”.

Ad Standards said the rise of social media advertising, along with more businesses producing their own content, has contributed to higher complaint volumes, particularly for ads viewed online.

Close behind was a Dettol hand sanitiser advertisement that drew 70 complaints for depicting a child picking his nose. Some viewers described the scene as “gross” or “unsavoury”; the ads were ultimately deemed compliant with advertising rules by the regulator, reported Mediaweek.

With 67 complaints was Caruso’s Natural Health ad promoting a vaginal health probiotic, with viewers complaining that it featured inappropriate language.

A car insurance commercial by Youi received 65 complaints after viewers objected to a scene in which a family compared shopping for insurance to “Aunty Kate’s search for a boyfriend”, with some accusing the ad of “shaming women”.

Red Rooster’s spot, which drew 34 complaints, showed a skateboarder swiping a roast chicken at a skate park, a gag some viewers said normalised anti-social behaviour.

The list also included ads criticised for tone or innuendo.

A Big W commercial, with 37 complaints, featured a child flashing a pixelated middle finger and was later deemed a breach for inappropriate non-verbal language by a minor.

A Pilot ad promoting erectile-dysfunction treatment, with 32 complaints, that used a garden hose as a visual metaphor, and a Rexona campaign built around close-up shots of “bums” and “balls”, which received 31 complaints, and while found compliant, prompted concerns about suggestive language and nudity.

Bankwest received 27 complaints for workplace bullying by showing that a woman using her coworker’s cup was a “power move,” and Westpac had 25 complaints for “animal mistreatment” because a man fed his dog ice cream.

Free-to-air television ads were still the most complained-about medium, but complaints about social media advertising, on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, made up roughly 30 per cent of cases reviewed.

Executive director of Ad Standards Greg Wallace told Australian Associated Press that the complaints were motivated by concerns for children.

“Australians tend to like good advertising with a degree of humour that’s well executed in a creative context but, if advertisers try to push the rules, then that generally does not work well within the Australian public at large,” he said.

“The best ad is a responsible ad.”