using innuendo and humour is a fine line to tread

Throughout the years, the James Bond franchise has always been linked with innuendo - most noticeably with the introduction of Pussy Galore in the 1964 film Goldfinger.

If you're not familiar, conversations like this were commonplace.

James Bond: Who are you?

Pussy Galore: My name is Pussy Galore.

James Bond: I must be dreaming.

Nobody batted an eyelid at the time. The key words being 'at the time'.

In 2015, New Adventure Travel Group launched an ad campaign which showed a topless woman holding a sign stating: 'Ride me all day for £3'. The creative, developed to launch their new X1 service, appeared as bus rears and on Twitter.

Public response probably wasn't as positive as the company had hoped, and what seemed an innocent play on words in the design studio kicked off big time with the Cardiff massive. 

'How am I supposed to explain this ad to my primary school kids?'
'Surely you don’t think that’s OK?'
'Women face enough harassment on buses without use of sexually explicit language'.

The ads were removed from the buses just a day after they appeared.

Unsurprisingly, what might be deemed acceptable in 1964, gathered a different response over half a century later.

Both innuendo and humour have a place in advertising (even in bus advertising) but you better be careful because you're treading a mighty fine line.