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The most complained about ad of 2011 is back

The new Rip & Roll ad

The most complained about ad campaign of 2011 has returned to Queensland.

The Rip & Roll safe gay sex campaign, which last year featured two gay men embracing and holding a condom, received a torrent of complaints last year – mostly from religious group the Australian Christian Lobby.

But the campaign has returned to Queensland with a new creative execution – this time three men holding a condom.

The new campaign is running in 35 bus shelters in inner Brisbane and will also run on billboards at Surfers Paradise, Townsville, Cairns, Capalaba in Brisbane’s east and Albion in Brisbane’s north.

Rip & Roll Advert

Rip & Roll ad from 2011

Complaints from the previous campaign pressured outdoor company AdShel into taking the posters down, and the company was subsequently barracked for homophobia by protest groups.

The campaign received 222 complaints, more than any other campaign in 2011.

Health Communities executive director Paul Martin told AAP: “We’ve designed the advert to be as subtle as possible. Last year we didn’t think there was any reason for the ACL to get upset and this year we don’t think so either. But what gets them going, who knows?”

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