One Japanese beauty ad is drawing flak for its merciless take on what happens to the “unattractive”.

Released earlier in September, the ad endorses Lohas Pharmaceutical Company’s Alface line of facial masks, which apparently promises instant beauty.

The 30-second commercial begins with a young woman dropping a red apple while walking on the street:

The apple is picked up by a man in the opposite direction:

After coming face-to-face, the woman is horrified by the man’s looks:

A second woman — the Alface user — shows up, and the man, in a shocking twist, turns to her to give the apple:

The woman awkwardly accepts the apple before rushing along. Meanwhile, a narrator speaks, “Sometimes, beauty can cause problems.”

The ad successfully sells the idea that using Alface can make you so pretty that you have to be ready to catch everyone’s attention.

And as if the commercial didn’t emphasize the message enough, a new ad comes up, this time showing a “handsome” man.

The ad’s plot is similar to the first, except that it has different outcomes, which you can probably already guess.

The Alface user, however, does not accept the apple this time, and this is when we appreciate the tagline, “Beauty makes people waver.”

Lohas probably thought that it was doing so well that it released a third ad, though only to create an alternate ending where the Alface user accepts the apple.

The tagline: “You never know when your chance will come.”

It doesn’t take a genius to point out that the ads, especially the first, are problematic. All three have raked thousands of dislikes since their posting on YouTube.

According to SoraNews24, Japanese netizens lashed out:

“It’s creepy how you can practically see the smirks on the faces of the shitty people who made this ad.”

“People are free to think whatever they want, but it’s pretty bold to just go out and say it like this.”

“I’d have no complaints if they got boycotted.”

One even thought about what would happen if the genders were switched:

“Reverse the genders, and women would be up in arms.”

Another was simply pissed off, because picking someone’s apple from the ground really warrants some gratitude, regardless of looks:

“If someone did this to me, would it be OK for me to squash the apple?”

See it all for yourself: