An ad on the F train has an image of a movie poster depicting the face of a woman in the throes of ecstasy next to the caption, “The heart wants, the flesh takes.” At least one rider sitting near the ad on a recent morning said it seemed inappropriate for children.

“I glanced at it from the side of my eye, but I didn’t really care to read it,” said the passenger, Tara Griffiths, 21, a student at St. John’s University in Queens. “It reminds me of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ ”

Another rider, Adrienne Wolfe, 40, of Brooklyn, said she had seen more explicit ads on television. “That’s not very racy,” she said. “You see it all the time.”

Steward Johnson, 25, a consultant who lives in Midtown Manhattan, was more concerned with the name appearing alongside the image: “Bill de Blasio, Mayor.” The ad promoted the city’s “Made in NY” effort supporting local film production.

“It probably isn’t smart for the mayor to have his name plastered on an advertisement such as this,” Mr. Johnson said with a laugh.

In another car, there were ads in English and Spanish for free “Kyng” size condoms from the city’s health department, part of a continuing public service campaign to promote safe sex. Mr. Rachmany of Dumbo Moving argues that those ads are more explicit than his because they refer directly to sex.