Sgt. Joe Friday boasting about how Chesterfield ciggies are healthy for you:
We had one in France, a young woman in bikini saying " j’enlève le haut" followed by her in monokini saying “j’enlève le bas”, followed by her naked, but seen from behind.
That was for an announcer and was meant to be both funny and sexy. and it was the late 80’s.
I clearly recall a McDonald’s ad from the late 70s or early 80s where they were introducing salad options, including “Chicken Salad - Oriental” where in the ad they had an Asian girl saying the word “oriental.”
Even back in those less enlightened times that struck teenage me as problematic.
How timely. Just this morning I saw a billboard that made me look twice.
It was for a basement waterproofing company. In very large letters: Are You Moist Down Below?
mmm
There is a permanent billboard here:
Your wife is hot
Better fix the air-conditioning
Nothing misogynistic here … 
(from 1938)
My wife and her Thai friends say, “Oriental” all the time - never, “Asian”.
There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of sexist ads from the past that would not fly today. Practically every vacuum cleaner ad for decades was:
Not really sure why this is shocking? Promotion of violence? Do you think it’s seriously suggesting people would come to blows over which cigarette brand they chose? It’s just a tongue in cheek way of saying “I really like my brand of cigarette” surely.
What other sin does it commit?
The prominent picture was quite striking, and I have seen more shiners in real life than you have, under more varied circumstances. I do not think the ad was promoting violence. Then again, few ad slogans are quoted in Public Enemy songs. I asked how people at the time interpreted it as I do not know.
On a related note, I was trying to think of aspects of today’s ads that might shock future generations. When I was younger, I used to enjoy going to reparatory cinemas, of which there were then many, and watching advertising film festivals. Some of the ads, often European or Aussie, were very hilarious and occasionally sexy. Today, most Canadian ads are very milquetoast. Many attempt to show social wokeness (which is overdue) but with little wit. I hope the sub genre ads I call “idiot husband” disappear.
I have likely shared this story before, but about 20 years ago, my boss (the head of strategy at the ad agency where I was then working) brought his team (including me) together one morning, to watch a reel of award-winning global ads.
All went well, until this ad (in a spoiler box here) came on, for an LGBT-oriented radio station in Australia. It’s a hilarious, and well-done ad, but it’s really NSFW, and more than a little uncomfortable for watching with my co-workers. 
Quite a few years ago there was a billboard ad campaign for Wonderbra in Montreal. You can imagine the picture. The text read, translated from French: “In high school I only got A’s.”
I’m really curious about where that ad would been played - TV and cinema wouldn’t have taken it, and I would have thought 1998 was too early for commercials to get much play on the internet.
I can only think it might have been something played privately in LGBT clubs…? Or maybe in the ads at the beginning of X-rated porn DVD’s or something?
Unfortunately, I can’t shed any light on that; we didn’t get any information like that with the reel. I don’t know enough about Australian media to know if such an ad would have even made it onto late-night cable TV there, and I think you’re right that online video ads would have been uncommon-to-nonexistent in '98 (when many people were still on dial-up connections). Clubs definitely seem more likely.
I doubt it would have been allowed even on cable TV though I never had cable so I don’t know.
There are lots of stewardess ads on this site, but this is the one that I was looking for:
So, Australian Dopers, what do YOU think?
Gotta say, that commercial WAS funny, but yeah, most likely it would have been played in clubs or maybe on pay-per-view porn channels.
Christmas Morning, I’d be happier with a hoover, too.
Bad grammar, which was noted at the time.
The lady in the ad looks too young to be a grammar.