Ricky Gervais, one of my favorite comedians is hilarious, and almost always provocative.

Ricky recently created “underground ads” for his Dutch Barn vodka were part of a viral marketing stunt where he claimed Transport for London (TfL) banned them for being too offensive. TfL denied ever receiving the specific controversial ad designs for consideration, stating alternative, accepted designs were actually running on their network.

Gervais posted mock-ups of the advertisements on social media, claiming they were rejected by the “powers that be”. The provocative (and darkly funny) taglines included:

• “If you don’t like dogs, you can **** off”
• “One day you’ll be underground for good.”
• “Welcome to London, don’t forget your stab vest.”
• “Dutch Barn, your tube driver’s favourite drink in the morning.”
• “Enjoy life you’ll be dead soon.”
• “Don’t jump, you’ll make everyone late for work, you selfish prick!”

The posts were a calculated social media campaign designed to generate buzz for the brand without paying for physical advertising space. Gervais leveraged the “banned” status to gain attention, leading to extensive global press coverage and millions of online impressions.

TfL confirmed that Gervais’ team never submitted those specific ad ideas to them or their advertising partners for approval. Instead, the campaign successfully generated massive online reach and increased subscriptions to the Dutch Barn mailing list, saving the company significant advertising costs.

Not good. Genius.