One Blackfriars: ‘Shades of Gross’ ad for luxury flats is dropped

Twitter slammed the advert as “creepy”, “vile” and “appalling”

A still from the ad

A video promoting luxury London apartments costing up to £23m has been pulled after viewers branded it “sexist” and likened it to soft porn.

Just hours after the film’s release for One Blackfriars, critics took to Twitter slamming the advert as “creepy”, “vile” and “appalling”.

Others compared it to the adaptation of erotic romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey – branding it “50 Shades of Grotesque”. The four-minute clip features a young couple arriving in London in a private helicopter, as a narrator describes their visits to “exclusive boutiques” and museums before arriving at the 560ft (170m) tower on the southern side of Blackfriars Bridge.

As the young woman undresses to swim in the complex’s pool, the narrator purrs “delicate, elegant, perfectly formed”, apparently describing the design of the 53-storey block. He later describes the building’s “every sensuous curve” as the camera focuses in on the young woman as she eats dinner.

The development will feature 274 flats, from studios starting at £1.15m to penthouse suites expected to fetch up to £23m. St George, the developer and part of the Berkeley Group, is targeting potential buyers in Russia, China and the Gulf.