diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0b7aacfabb..0dae1e913f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ the release.
   ([#1448](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/1448))
 * [cartservice] update .NET to .NET 8.0.3
   ([#1460](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/1460))
+* [adservice] add adServiceManualGC feature flag
+  ([#1463](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/1463))
 * [frontendproxy] remove deprecated start_child_span option
   ([#1469](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/1469))
 * [currency] fix metric name
diff --git a/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/AdService.java b/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/AdService.java
index a2ddf9116e..75c50802e3 100644
--- a/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/AdService.java
+++ b/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/AdService.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import oteldemo.Demo.Ad;
 import oteldemo.Demo.AdRequest;
 import oteldemo.Demo.AdResponse;
+import oteldemo.problempattern.GarbageCollectionTrigger;
 import dev.openfeature.contrib.providers.flagd.FlagdOptions;
 import dev.openfeature.contrib.providers.flagd.FlagdProvider;
 import dev.openfeature.sdk.Client;
@@ -127,6 +128,9 @@ private enum AdResponseType {
 
   private static class AdServiceImpl extends oteldemo.AdServiceGrpc.AdServiceImplBase {
     
+    private static final String ADSERVICE_FAILURE = "adServiceFailure";
+    private static final String ADSERVICE_MANUAL_GC_FEATURE_FLAG = "adServiceManualGc";
+
     private AdServiceImpl() {}
 
     /**
@@ -177,10 +181,16 @@ public void getAds(AdRequest req, StreamObserver<AdResponse> responseObserver) {
             Attributes.of(
                 adRequestTypeKey, adRequestType.name(), adResponseTypeKey, adResponseType.name()));
 
-        if (checkAdFailure()) {
+        if (getFeatureFlagEnabled(ADSERVICE_FAILURE)) {
           throw new StatusRuntimeException(Status.RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED);
         }
 
+        if (getFeatureFlagEnabled(ADSERVICE_MANUAL_GC_FEATURE_FLAG)) {
+          logger.warn("Feature Flag " + ADSERVICE_MANUAL_GC_FEATURE_FLAG + " enabled, performing a manual gc now");
+          GarbageCollectionTrigger gct = new GarbageCollectionTrigger();
+          gct.doExecute();
+        }
+
         AdResponse reply = AdResponse.newBuilder().addAllAds(allAds).build();
         responseObserver.onNext(reply);
         responseObserver.onCompleted();
@@ -193,12 +203,18 @@ public void getAds(AdRequest req, StreamObserver<AdResponse> responseObserver) {
       }
     }
 
-    boolean checkAdFailure() {
+    /**
+     * Retrieves the status of a feature flag from the Feature Flag service.
+     *
+     * @param ff The name of the feature flag to retrieve.
+     * @return {@code true} if the feature flag is enabled, {@code false} otherwise or in case of errors.
+     */
+    boolean getFeatureFlagEnabled(String ff) {
       Client client = OpenFeatureAPI.getInstance().getClient();
       // TODO: Plumb the actual session ID from the frontend via baggage?
       UUID uuid = UUID.randomUUID();
       client.setEvaluationContext(new MutableContext().add("session", uuid.toString()));
-      Boolean boolValue = client.getBooleanValue("adServiceFailure", false);
+      Boolean boolValue = client.getBooleanValue(ff, false);
       return boolValue;
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/problempattern/GarbageCollectionTrigger.java b/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/problempattern/GarbageCollectionTrigger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa72bc1f2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/problempattern/GarbageCollectionTrigger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/*
+* Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+* SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+*/
+
+package oteldemo.problempattern;
+
+import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * The GarbageCollectionTrigger class is responsible for triggering manual garbage collection
+* at specified intervals to simulate memory pressure and measure the impact on performance.
+*/
+public class GarbageCollectionTrigger {
+    private static final Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(GarbageCollectionTrigger.class.getName());
+
+    private final long gc_delay;
+    private final int finalize_delay;
+    private final int maxObjects;
+
+    private long lastGC = 0;
+
+    private final MemoryUtils memUtils;
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a new GarbageCollectionTrigger with default values.
+    */
+    public GarbageCollectionTrigger() {
+        memUtils = new MemoryUtils(ManagementFactory.getMemoryMXBean());
+        gc_delay = TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(10);
+        finalize_delay = 500;
+        maxObjects = 500000;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Triggers manual garbage collection at specified intervals and measures the impact on performance.
+    * It creates Entry objects to fill up memory and initiates garbage collection.
+    */
+    public void doExecute() {
+        if (System.currentTimeMillis() - lastGC > gc_delay) {
+            logger.info("Triggering a manual garbage collection, next one in " + (gc_delay/1000) + " seconds.");
+            // clear old data, we want to clear old Entry objects, because their finalization is expensive
+            System.gc();
+
+            long total = 0;
+            for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+                while (memUtils.getHeapUsage() < 0.9 && memUtils.getObjectPendingFinalizationCount() < maxObjects) {
+                    new Entry();
+                }
+                long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
+                System.gc();
+                total += System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
+            }
+            logger.info("The artificially triggered GCs took: " + total + " ms");
+            lastGC = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The Entry class represents objects created for the purpose of triggering garbage collection.
+    */
+    private class Entry {
+        /**
+         * Overrides the finalize method to introduce a delay, simulating finalization during garbage collection.
+        *
+        * @throws Throwable If an exception occurs during finalization.
+        */
+        @SuppressWarnings("removal")
+        @Override
+        protected void finalize() throws Throwable {
+            TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.sleep(finalize_delay);
+            super.finalize();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/problempattern/MemoryUtils.java b/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/problempattern/MemoryUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b314145fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/adservice/src/main/java/oteldemo/problempattern/MemoryUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+* Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+* SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+*/
+
+package oteldemo.problempattern;
+
+import java.lang.management.MemoryMXBean;
+import java.lang.management.MemoryUsage;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+
+
+/**
+ * This class provides JVM heap related utility methods.
+*/
+public class MemoryUtils {
+
+    private static final Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(MemoryUtils.class.getName());
+
+    private static final long NO_HEAP_LIMIT = -1;
+
+    private final MemoryMXBean memoryBean;
+
+    /**
+     * @param memoryBean defines which {@link MemoryMXBean} is to use
+    */
+    public MemoryUtils(MemoryMXBean memoryBean) {
+        this.memoryBean = memoryBean;
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @return The current heap usage as a decimal number between 0.0 and 1.0.
+    *         That is, if the returned value is 0.85, 85% of the max heap is used.
+    *
+    *         If no max heap is set, the method returns -1.0.
+    */
+    public double getHeapUsage() {
+        MemoryUsage heapProps = memoryBean.getHeapMemoryUsage();
+        long heapUsed = heapProps.getUsed();
+        long heapMax = heapProps.getMax();
+
+        if (heapMax == NO_HEAP_LIMIT) {
+            if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+            logger.debug("No maximum heap is set");
+            }
+            return NO_HEAP_LIMIT;
+        }
+
+
+        double heapUsage = (double) heapUsed / heapMax;
+        if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+            logger.debug("Current heap usage is {0} percent" + (heapUsage * 100));
+        }
+        return heapUsage;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * see {@link MemoryMXBean#getObjectPendingFinalizationCount()}
+    */
+    public int getObjectPendingFinalizationCount() {
+        return memoryBean.getObjectPendingFinalizationCount();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/flagd/demo.flagd.json b/src/flagd/demo.flagd.json
index 5234fcce55..26c2c71b94 100644
--- a/src/flagd/demo.flagd.json
+++ b/src/flagd/demo.flagd.json
@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@
       },
       "defaultVariant": "off"
     },
+    "adServiceManualGc": {
+      "description": "Triggers full manual garbage collections in the ad service",
+      "state": "ENABLED",
+      "variants": {
+          "on": true,
+          "off": false
+        },
+        "defaultVariant": "off"
+    },
     "adServiceFailure": {
       "description": "Fail ad service",
       "state": "ENABLED",