If you’ve been driving around Kuala Lumpur, you may have stumbled upon a rather “tantalising” billboard ad recently.

The rather controversial billboard advertisement was spotted in Bangsar, Mont Kiara and Hartamas, and it caused quite a stir online.

Photo: Facebook Sugarbook

Photo: Facebook Sugarbook

The advertisement from the company Sugarbook (Asia’s most critically-acclaimed Sugar Daddy Dating platform),  featured a much younger girl embracing an older man with the caption “ Hey Sugar, Upgrade Your Love Life!” and the dating app’s caption “Where beautiful, successful people meet”.

This was the first billboard advert from the company right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and to celebrate, Sugarbook even offered a 15-day Free Premium Membership for those who snapped a picture of the billboards and tagged them!

While Sugarbook may have thought that they came up with a brilliant marketing plan, many Malaysians thought otherwise and took it to social media to express their concerns:

Iklan sugar daddy, sugar baby, sugar mummy dinaikkan dan terpampang secara terbuka.

Macamana DBKL boleh lulus signboard besar macamani?

@KhalidSamadterlepas pandang ke?

IMHO tak sesuai sekali dengan adab dan budaya kita di Malaysia.

Lokasi Banner: Bangsar dan Sri Hartamas. pic.twitter.com/OyWPC3dfbS

— Khairul Azri (@mkhairulazri) December 17, 2019

Wow selama ni iklan lucah produk melayu bertapis je ayat.
@DBKL2u tak control ads content supaya rakyat malaysia bebas berkreativiti, tapi nampak gaya Dewan Bandaraya kena start control la kalau gini.
Ini iklan JUAL SEX weyh!@KhalidSamad @DATO_Nor

— Gojira Rawrr (@adrujaMK) December 17, 2019

literally tak lama lgi malaysia hnya trkenal dgn ada billboard lucah & tak brmoral je😷

— nabello (@nabello8) December 17, 2019

With the massive attention the whole issue has gotten, Lembah Pantai MP, Fahmi Fadzil, acted quickly by lodging a report for the billboards to be taken down. A media statement has since been issued by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, ordering the billboards to be removed immediately.

Photo: Twitter Informasi Wilayah

According to the statement, the billboards did not get the approval by KLCH and Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan. The content of the advertisement was also deemed as inappropriate and did not conform to the norms of our society.

Sugarbook’s CEO, Darren Chan also responded to the report and complaints, by highlighting the aim of the company, which he claims  is to empower women by letting them choose freely who they want to date.

The company also clarified that their services were not condoning the use of illegal sex workers or the trade of bodies for monetary value.

What do you think- was the ad in bad taste?

By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya