Posted by Ernest, Junee, Australia on January 12, 2009:

After a few years of the great free This is true I recently paid to upgrade to the premium edition despite being unemployed and broke, I'd sold a few copies of an e-book and had some money in PayPal so used it to spend on This is True, money well spent.

About the Beaver ad, this advertisement MUST have been made by an American, while beaver is a slang term for a certain part of female anatomy in the USA it is NOT used as such in Australia, except by people from the USA. Add in the fact the mechanised animal is a very crappy example, hell a Muppet one would have been much better, the advertisement is just poorly done garbage and should have been refused air time just on the lack of artistic merit alone.

Also, we don NOT have beavers down here, we have another animal that fills the same ecological niche and looks very similar called a platypus.

If you want a good ad, try the Aussie one where a guy and girl are sitting opposite each other in a waiting room and a phone rings, the girl smiles, puts her hand in her bag and removes something as she starts to talk like on a cell phone, camera angle widens and she has a vibrator to her ear. I can't remember what the ad was for but do remember the ad as I found it funny and every female I know thought it very funny.

When you compare the quality of that ad to the beaver one you realise the beaver ad is total garbage without even getting into the subject matter.

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I do know you don't have beavers (the rodent) in Australia, and I'm sure you have funnier ads. The point of the story isn't that this is the funniest ad ever made there, but rather that it was the most-complained-about ad last year, and what that implied. -rc

Posted by Derek in New Mexico on January 13, 2009:

Is anyone else hearing this? The opening text for this story includes the words,

the Kotex "U" line of feminine protection products...

But in the video, what I hear Randy saying is 'the "U"-LOIN of feminine products'!

Either Randy or I need to speak to Dr. Freud about leaving his slips lying around unattended.

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Jeez, Derek: it's just a little Jersey slipping through! Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.... :-) -rc

Posted by Oscar - The Netherlands on January 18, 2009:

I'm Dutch, I don't get excited by talk about beavers, platipuses or whatever. I think it's childish to stick to this taboo. I know that's not why you posted it.

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Actually, I think making fun of the taboo is what's behind the original commercial, and frankly I applaud them for embracing the word, rather than shunning it. (Platypus?!) -rc

Posted by Dave - Cleveland on January 18, 2009:

How did the sleep-aid commercials featuring a talking beaver along with Honest Abe and a couple of other folks the gentleman hadn't been dreaming about for some time avoid outrage? I suppose it was the talking part.

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I think it was more the "they weren't referring to the "body part down there" part. Or were they...? -rc

Posted by Matt - Melbourne on January 19, 2009:

Finally an ad about menstruation that doesn't feature a beaker of blue water! This ad is brilliant!

Posted by amanda, ontario canada on January 20, 2009:

As a 'grown' woman,with a beaver that is well taken care of, i must stress It is important to care for ones' beaver. Indeed it is a good way to ensure return visits from beaver admirers. Up here in ontario, it is common to see wild beavers swimming in the rivers, where beaver hunters can trap and shoot them and presto, the beaver is someone's hat! Ladies, keep your beaver well kept and groomed. Be proud of your beavers girls!!! Don't let them out alone....
I'm still laffing!!!! Go beavers!!!!

Posted by Sue. Michigan on January 22, 2009:

I think it would be fair game if a guy carried around a rooster or "cock". The caption could read "you only have one, protect your cock. A perfect ad for condoms. I would like to know if it would be just as funny to you and your reader's?

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I don't know about my "reader's", but a real ad like that? You bet I'd make just as much fun out of it, and my readers (no apostrophe) would laugh just as hard. Absolutely. Why wouldn't you think so? -rc

Posted by Mark, Melbourne Australia on January 31, 2009:

Just wondering why on earth you were using a Las Vegas sign as the background for a story about an Australian Ad??????

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I was in Las Vegas that week. That's what I meant when I said "From Las Vegas..." -rc

Posted by Dan, Boston on February 5, 2009:

Great story and I am sure that the innuendo discussions could go on for years. On the other hand, you have to love the Google ad that appeared on the page offering "All-Natural BeaverRepel, Eliminate Beavers From Your Property in 60 Seconds Flat!"...

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Me?! Buy a product to repel beavers at my house? Never! -rc

Posted by Belinda, Sydney on May 7, 2009:

I hated this ad...but not because of the innuendo. I hated it because it used the slang term "beaver" which has been pointed out previously is not in use in Australia. When I first saw the ad I had no idea what the point of it was, I thought it was stupid until an american friend of mine to let me know of the word usage in the US. Why use a term that is not familiar to Australians?

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I agree it's odd. Maybe they figured the Internet made the term more universal. Or maybe they thought it was a good idea to introduce the term there (which also would be quite odd!) -rc