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Starting off with a pretty mild cartoon here. It draws comparisons between the Master System's name and the master/slave dynamic in the BDSM community.
As the ads herein are official and were all published, none are necessarily explicit, but they are without a doubt inappropriate. In some instances they are perhaps even triggering by today's standards.
The next few ads are a riff on the same reoccurring theme—video games are as good as or better than sex.
If these ads are to be believed, then video game consoles were apparently a lot more "fulfilling" back in the 90s. Where the ads weren't explicit, there was certainly no shortage of inuendo.
This ad promoted toxic behavior and machismo culture by encouraging men to control their partners is just cringeworthy by today's standards. This ad promoted toxic behavior and machismo culture by encouraging men to control their partners.
At first glance, this ad might seem fairly mild, but it's actually quite pernicious. "She really wants it" harkens to victim-blaming language used against sexual assault survivors.
Guys want to blow things up and steal while girls want a "big back seat". Got it.
Help is available: Dial 988
Suicide is no joke, but this Game Boy ad seems to make light of it.
Domestic violence isn't cool, but you wouldn't know it by looking at this ad. It depicts a dad teaching his son about DV through the arcade fighting game Virtua Fighter. It's a joke that just gets too close to the reality of how domestic violence is often a learned behavior, passed down from parent to child.
Here's a few more ads that show how even when it comes to video games, or perhaps especially so—sex sells.