The Ads They Tried To Ban (five): Extreme: Holiday Disasters (five): THERE was a time when society allowed people to be pressurised into undertaking the potentially lethal habits of smoking and drinking but refused to allow them to be made aware of health products.

Talking about sanitary towels and tampons was considered an unsuitable subject for TV commercials. The first six-month trial attracted 1,200 complaints and san-pro ads, as they're delicately called, were banned again.

Six years later, a second trial got under way after nine months of negotiation. Gradually, restrictions were removed and complaints died away.

A hiccup occurred when Claire Rayner and her wings appeared. She took a more direct approach to selling a new form of sanitary towel, asking women on camera for their views on the product. Complaints poured in. Claire's wings were clipped.

The Ads They Tried To Ban showed how regulations on commercials for alcohol and cigarettes made the ad agencies more creative. Rather than see sales slump, Benson and Hedges saw them increase as a result of a campaign that, its creator admitted, was "completely incomprehensible" but did attract the viewers' attention.

Tight regulations over alcohol advertising led to campaigns like the Heineken refreshes the parts ads. Adding humour changed beer advertising. Interesting to learn that the "bet he drinks Carling Black Label" catchphrase was originally destined to advertise milk ("bet he drinks milk").

The British have a reputation for being coy about sex, so no surprise that the first TV ad we saw featuring a nipple had played all over Europe before reaching here.

Nowadays anything goes. Naked men are exploited as well as naked women. Sex is used to sell Pot Noodles and the FCUK campaign is a blatant play on a word that wouldn't normally be allowed although its boss told us that it arose from the header on their faxes - French Connection UK.

But one commercial that attracted one of the largest number of complaints had nothing to do with sex, nudity, bad language or sanitary towels. It just made people feel sick watching man spew up a whole dog to promote a product designed to "avoid dog breath".

Ads for the Caribbean island of San Andreas didn't warn of the hazards of holidaying there as Extreme... Holiday Disasters demonstrated. Visitors should have feared the worst when they landed at the half-built airport to be greeted by departing holidaymakers throwing toilet rolls at them, while shouting, 'you'll need them'.

Investigating a smell on arrival at the hotel, they found that raw sewage was being discharged into the mangrove area at the rear of the building. Guests were obliged to deposit toilet paper in a basket or rusty can rather than flush it away. Once woman discovered a rat eating a canister of Pringles under her bed. Guests were subjected to loud music being played day and night. Drugs were sold outside the hotel, near a van were prostitutes touted for trade.

"Do you want a nice girl," one asked Marjorie White's husband.

"I said, 'he's got me, thank you'," said Marjorie.

Like most of us, the holidaymakers' initial reaction was to turn round, go back to the airport and return home. One small problem - there was only one flight to the UK a week, and that was full.

Published: 06/11/2003