Australia: Top 10 most complained about TV ads in 2015 include Rebel Wilson and a gay kiss

The advertising watchdog for Australia has released a list of the top 10 most complained about adverts for 2015 – after a year which saw the country's TV full of "swearing, overly sexual content and ill-mannered behaviour".

The list of adverts, compiled by the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau, includes a woman describing her period in graphic detail, a sweaty man wiping his crotch suggestively at the gym, and a TV spot in which comedian Rebel Wilson refers to her cat as a "big pussy".

10. Edgewell (53 complaints): This TV advert features three women trimming bonsai plants in front of their crotches to promote a bikini trimmer. It prompted 53 complaints over what was said to be "inappropriate sexual content". Despite the suggestive position of the "bushes" the complaints were dismissed.

One complainant said: "Sexualisation of females again, with how to have your public hair looking, with a time slot for young girls, not good enough." Another added: "This is a male fantasy. It's gross."

9. SCA Hygiene Australasia (56 complaints): This TV advert featured people repeating the phrase "Oh sheet" while promoting a brand of paper towels. It ended with the slogan: "This is the good sheet". It prompted 56 complaints over what was said to be "inappropriate language". The complaints were dismissed.

One complainant said: "They are substituting sheet instead of s**t...they even have a New Zealander to make it sound worse. I think this is unacceptable in this time slot as our young children are watching." Another added: "We were watching The Voice with my three young children (10, eight and five) and I was horrified that they were exposed to this. You only work out they are saying 'sheet' at the end of the commercial."

8. Hyundai (59 complaints): This TV advert featured a woman flicking her belt at an approaching snake as part of a promotion for a Hyundai car. It prompted 59 complaints from people claiming it promoted "cruelty to animals". The complaints were dismissed.

One complainant said: "Not only is this a dangerous practice, which would only aggravate the snake, but it also promotes cruelty to animals."

7. Unilever Australia (62 complaints): This TV advert featured two men kissing each other as part of a commercial for a Lynx hair product. While it also showed a man kissing a woman, the same-sex kiss prompted 62 complaints with people claiming it represented a "gay agenda forced into the home through ads". The complaints were dismissed.

One complainant said: "Being confronted by a hair product ad that had a male character kiss another male character – I nearly fell off the lounge! Yes, Australia is a free country, but this ad seems to me to show the gay minority dictating terms to the (normal) majority!!"

6. Stan (66 complaints): This promotion for TV channel Stan features Australian comedian Rebel Wilson sitting next to a television with a cat on her lap. She is asked by a "director" to say how sexy an actor on the television set is. She replies: "Can't I just say 'me and my big p***y love it'?" The director replies: "Is that your p***y I'm smelling?". It prompted 66 complaints on ground of inappropriate sexual content. Amazingly, the complaints were dismissed.

One complainant said: "Rebel Wilson uses vulgar references to her genital to which the interviewer asks if she smells and he says he likes it. I find this a vulgar and offensive play on words which refers to the female genital."

5. Sportsbet (71 complaints): This TV advert promoting a betting company features a sweaty man wiping himself at the gym, in what some 71 complainants suggested was him mimicking masturbation. IBTimesUK could not find the advert but it was reported on here. The complaints were, yet again, dismissed.

One complainant said: "The vision thrust into my lounge room of some mindless guy began wiping his testicles with a towel and then wiping sweat off his underarms and then to go on to sniff, it is totally disgusting and offensive." Another added: "It shows a man masturbating, right at the start of the ad."

4. Unicharm (76 complaints): This TV advert features a woman promoting sanitary towels by acting out a number of scenarios related to having her period. It includes her saying: "I feel like I've sat on a jam doughnut." Some 76 people complained about the ad saying it discriminated against women and was inappropriate.

One complained: "It's disgusting and offensive. There is no need to describe a period in this detail. My young kids see this ad and I shouldn't have to explain what a jam doughnut means." Another added: "I don't think I could ever look at a jam doughnut the same way again."

3. Fantastic Snacks (85 complaints): This TV advert features a wife licking chips off her husbands lips. It prompted 85 complaints from people who said it featured inappropriate sexual content.

One said: "This commercial has a perverted nature, it's basically soft porn. It is filthy and sends the wrong message about acceptable social conduct. It's absolutely disgraceful. How it was approved in this country is unfathomably embarrassing."

2. Ashley Madison (138 complaints): Not a stranger to controversy, Ashley Madison was responsible for the second most complained about TV advert in Australia in 2015. It features men singing, "I'm looking for someone other than my wife," before going on to promote an extra-marital dating service.

After 138 complaints, it is the only advert in the top 10 to be banned by the regulators, which found it "degrading to wives". One person complaining said: "I object to this advertising because it is promoting promiscuity in married men. I also find it sexist that only men are encouraged to commit adultery in their marriage, not women."

1. Holden (161 complaints): The top most-complained about Australian TV advert in 2015 was for a Holden car. It featured a boy mimicking his father by saying: "Bloody caravaners". Some 161 people complained saying it featured inappropriate language, but they were all dismissed.

One person complaining said: "Why is it acceptable or humorous to hear kids swearing? It's not." Another took exception not to the swearing but to the way the car was being driven, saying: "My main concern was the manner in which the vehicle towing the caravan was driven. This sends a poor message to drivers and puts caravan owners in a poor light."

Advertising Standards Bureau chief executive Fiona Jolly said: "What we can see from the list is that complainants are particularly concerned with seeing behaviour in advertisements that they view as inappropriate. When the Board considers an advertisement, they can only consider the content of the advertisement, under the specific sections of the Code of Ethics.

"While some people may not like to see 'bad behaviour' in advertising, the content of many of these advertisements did not breach the code."