You know how Clearasil commercials go. Primary colours and a bubblegum soundtrack feature people grinning into a mirror with porcelain skin and given the confidence to go out and be themselves, right? Well, the admen have decided on a different tactic this time round, deciding that, the best way to sell spot cream is to turn young twinks into lecherous, grabby types in their chilling new commercial that sees a whippersnapper croaking “Hey Kim! Can I borrow your lipstick?”

Related: More commercial breaks

Clearasil has always been a confidence building product. The line has always been that you don’t need to worry about having a face like a pox victim because they’re on hand to help you out with a bottle of what seems like pure alcohol. Dab it on your face and… well… you know how it works because you’ve seen the dodgy diagrams on the adspots.

However, they must have put a new facerape ingredient in because, as the little shitehouse in the newest advert shows, it doesn’t so much give you confidence, but rather, gives you the feeling that you can take anything you like without consequence.

Presumably, the snorting hoorays who came up with this ad’ were thinking of teens fingering each other in bus-stops, thanks to their spot potion. “Oh, how wonderful! We’re helping to spread the love!” Yep. And quite possibly a few complaints of sexual harassment too.

One thing that the advert failed to capture is the likelihood of the young buck getting a slap from Kim for taking liberties. Can Clearasil do anything about this great big red handprint on my face?