In what is quickly becoming one of the most spectacularly cringe-worthy marketing self-owns of the year, British disinfectant giant Dettol has been forced to tuck its tail and apologize after its massive "anti-misogyny" ad campaign completely blew up in its face in China. The brand, owned by multinational corporate overlord Reckitt, withdrew the offending commercial on Sunday after realizing that lecturing your target audience on social justice using a bottle of bleach is a quick way to tank your brand equity.

The brilliant minds behind this five-minute "micro-drama," which was dropped across major online platforms at the end of May, decided that relationship counseling was the natural next step for a household hygiene brand. The ad features a guy who is apparently the ultimate caricature of a toxic partner, comparing his current girlfriend to his ex. When he finds out his ex-girlfriend used to live with another guy, he calls it a "secondhand service" and starts whining to his buddies about how he needs a "clean and untouched" woman. "I may not be a virgin, but my future wife has to be," he declares, adding, "Luckily, I met her now, she’s clean and hasn’t been contaminated by other men."

But wait, it gets better. The commercial attempts to hit the audience with some high-level progressive messaging. The new girlfriend finds out about his double standards, calls out his toxic attitude, and dumps him on the spot. As she hurls his dirty socks into a washing machine, a voiceover delivers the ultimate corporate-approved punchline: "A toxic man is just like these germs – you need Dettol to eliminate them completely to feel at ease." Yes, you read that right. Dettol tried to sell soap by equating bad boyfriends to microscopic bacteria.

The internet's reaction was, predictably, a total trainwreck for the brand. By Tuesday, the topic had racked up a staggering 80 million views on Weibo, with users absolutely roasting the ad for its sheer stupidity and offensive framing. Instead of applauding the brand's stunning bravery, consumers launched massive boycott calls. One Weibo user simple stated, "I will never use Dettol again." Turns out, ordinary people don't actually like being lectured about sexual ethics and toxic relationships by a corporation that manufactures chemical cleaners.

Once the backlash reached critical mass, Dettol’s PR department scrambled into damage control mode. In their apology post, they unironically claimed the ad was meant to "challenge unequal gender attitudes and promote healthy, confident views on relationships and lifestyles." Then, in a classic display of corporate backpedaling, they blamed "edited clips circulating online" for distorting their beautiful, progressive message. It’s always the internet’s fault when the corporate messaging fails to land, isn’t it?