The hype died down long after the documentary premiered, but the platform lives on.
But recently, the sugar daddy-sugar baby dating site was in the spotlight once again for all the wrong reasons (what reasons could be right, anyway?).
Distasteful billboards
Several images featuring digital billboards located in Bangsar and Mont Kiara bearing advertisements for the Sugarbook app went viral on Twitter since Tuesday (17 December).Of course, the controversial billboards prompted backlash from Malaysians:
Iklan sugar daddy, sugar baby, sugar mummy dinaikkan dan terpampang secara terbuka.
— Khairul Azri (@mkhairulazri) December 17, 2019
Macamana DBKL boleh lulus signboard besar macamani?
@KhalidSamadterlepas pandang ke?
IMHO tak sesuai sekali dengan adab dan budaya kita di Malaysia.
Lokasi Banner: Bangsar dan Sri Hartamas. pic.twitter.com/OyWPC3dfbS
Macam mana iklan sugarbook tu boleh lepas? Setahu aku ke time apply dekat PBT kena tunjuk dulu graphic. Ke diorang ni tunjuk lain papar lain.
— ILI (@alif_lam_ya) December 18, 2019
just read a statement by this founder of some app called sugarbook about how his app is about women empowerment and choices. barf.
— farah (@farahaziz) December 18, 2019
New billboard in KL. Prostitution advertised PUBLICLY in Malaysia. Sugarbook is the Asian version of Seeking Arrangement, it's just prostitution, but done in a more polished manner, to anyone whose willing to fork out a huge amount of money to start an arrangement with the girls. pic.twitter.com/xLDiKTdvve
— HereOn Earth (@earth_hereon) December 18, 2019
I'm 100% agree in banning Sugarbook from Malaysia.
— ?Atif ?? (@LuqmanAtif) December 17, 2019
Youth should not seek such job for money.
Old dudes should be loyal or get 2nd wife if you need to. Get approval first.
Totally unorthodox this sugardaddy thingy.
Semalam masa aku tengok Iklan Sugarbook dkt Publika aku rasa berdebar & terpinga-pinga; "eh ni apps setting sugarbaby ni, biar betul diorang selamba iklan kat billbord, amerika betul dah gaya ni" pastu aku teruskan memandu. Hari ni, meletup isu, aku agak dah mesti jadi isu punya.
— Ikar (@ikarbertweet) December 17, 2019
DBKL has since issued a statement regarding the billboards.
According to the Malay Mail, the City Hall did not approve the advertisement for the app known as SugarBook on the billboard, which is owned by Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP).
Interestingly, YWP also did not give the green light for the ad to go up, which basically means that it was illegally placed.
“The operator of the LED (billboard) has been notified about the advertisement content that is sensitive by Malaysian norms, and it must be immediately removed from the LED display,” according to the statement.
“DBKL has issued an order to YWP and Out of Home to immediately revoke the displayed advertisement from both the locations.”
Apparently, the digital billboard ads have been around since 3 December, but it took a whole two weeks until someone spotted it and made it an issue.
So guys, what do you think of the ads? Somehow, some way, it lasted for two weeks on the digital space.