--- title: Desigual's Controversial Mother's Day Ad: Woman Pokes Holes in Condoms description: Desigual released a controversial Mother's Day ad that shows a woman poking holes in condoms to get pregnant. canonical: https://time.com/89828/clothing-brand-apologizes-for-mothers-day-ad-of-a-woman-poking-holes-in-condoms/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-06T22:33:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:27.187Z og:title: WATCH: Clothing Brand Sorry If It Offended People with Mother's Day Ad of a Woman Intentionally Poking Holes in Condoms og:description: Desigual released a controversial Mother's Day ad that shows a woman poking holes in condoms to get pregnant. og:url: https://time.com/89828/clothing-brand-apologizes-for-mothers-day-ad-of-a-woman-poking-holes-in-condoms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WATCH: Clothing Brand Sorry If It Offended People with Mother's Day Ad of a Woman Intentionally Poking Holes in Condoms twitter:description: Desigual released a controversial Mother's Day ad that shows a woman poking holes in condoms to get pregnant. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Clothing Brand Apologizes for Mother's Day Ad of a Woman Poking Holes in Condoms  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 6, 2014 10:33 PM CUT  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 6, 2014 10:33 PM CUT Spanish clothing company Desigual is catching flak for releasing a TV ad featuring a woman hoping to get pregnant by poking holes in her condoms, pegged to Mother’s Day in Spain, which was on May 4. In the original version of the spot, a woman stands in front of a mirror and stuffs a cushion up her dress to admire her would-be pregnant stomach, then coyly plays with a pin before poking it through a green pack of condoms: A copy uploaded by YouTube user [jotaTVQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYOAWXeH6QI "undefined") has started going viral, racking up more than 1.7 million views by late afternoon Tuesday. The campaign has caused outrage on the Internet, with some calling it “[wildly offensive](http://www.thegloss.com/2014/05/03/fashion/desigual-condom-mothers-day-commercial-video/#ixzz30xyZMLhe "undefined")” and others pointing out that it endorses dishonest and dangerous behavior. In [an updated blog post](http://blog.desigual.com/es/tu-decides/ "undefined") in Spanish, Desigual apologized for offending viewers, and stated that its intention was to produce a humorous spot. It has released another version with the controversial pin-pricking edited out. Spain is currently poised to vote on a [strict abortion ban](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/spain-pm-promises-reasonable-abortion-curbs-171234848.html#BoKfWT4 "undefined"), [except in instances](http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/02/27/283081599/anti-abortion-push-has-spain-debating-definition-of-progress "undefined") of rape or a threat to the health of the mother. Pro-choice activists even set up [a fake pop-up “abortion travel agency”](http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2014/may/06/spain-pro-choice-campaigners-set-up-fake-abortion-travel-agency "undefined") in Madrid last month. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/89828/clothing-brand-apologizes-for-mothers-day-ad-of-a-woman-poking-holes-in-condoms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/89828/clothing-brand-apologizes-for-mothers-day-ad-of-a-woman-poking-holes-in-condoms/"},"headline":"Clothing Brand Apologizes for Mother's Day Ad of a Woman Poking Holes in Condoms","datePublished":"2014-05-06T22:33:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:27.187Z","description":"This is not how you should get pregnant.","url":"https://time.com/89828/clothing-brand-apologizes-for-mothers-day-ad-of-a-woman-poking-holes-in-condoms/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Living","Business topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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