• A March video featured a black San Francisco State University woman angrily confronting a white student, accusing him of "cultural appropriation" because he was wearing his hair in dreadlocks.
• A March fitness club ad pitch in Sawley, England, picturing an extraterrestrial with the caption, "And when they arrive, they'll take the fat ones first," was denounced by an anti-bullying organization as "offensive."
• A May bus-stop ad for a San Francisco money lender ("10 percent down. Because you're too smart to rent") was derided for "ooz[ing] self-congratulatory privilege."