Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, The Ultimate Road Test/Freak of Nature

This troubled ad had a number of issues that got it into hot water, causing an edit then it was pulled off air. (Sorry we haven't yet been able to find a copy of this version, so there's only a description with a link to an edited version without the armadillo or cross-dresser.)

Two male Kia employees drive a Kia around the country on a 1000-miles-a-day "test drive," with a giant odometer on top of the car tracking the miles up to 200,000. They pass a variety of curiosities, including a heavy downpour, a roadside chain gang (labelled “32 former politicians”), a construction worker sleeping ("A zillion tax dollars at work"), and an armadillo (labelled “biological speed bumps" but that part was pulled after Kia got complaints about cruelty to animals).

In one version of the campaign, another person has been driving alongside him all the way, which he finally notices at the end of the journey. It's a cross-dressing man who blows the Kia driver a kiss. At the bottom of the screen it says "57 acts of nature . . . and one freak of nature."

Per the Washington Post, GLAAD told the company, "It seems pretty clear that labeling someone a 'freak' does more than just make a joke: It passes judgment, it perpetuates stereotypes, and in this case, it stigmatizes an entire group of people. . . . Transgender persons [those who want to, or have, changed genders] are among the most frequent victims of bias-motivated crimes."

The Post quoted Rick Weisehan, Kia's national ad manager, as saying the company just thought the ad was funny. "It was meant to be lighthearted," he said. "We tested it, and no one took offense. . . . [GLAAD] found it offensive that we refer to transgender people this way. Well, I mean, that's a new word for me. But as I explained to them, our intent was never to malign anyone. We don't want to alienate any potential customer."

Jim Sanfilippo, Kia’s vice president of marketing told the LA Times that banking on word of mouth was necessary for a car company with a small ad budget, “It’s what we needed to do because we came here with a small, unknown car from an unknown company,” he said.