Watchdog wants 'degrading' thong adverts axed

France's advertising industry watchdog, hardly a paragon of political correctness, yesterday took the exceptional step of asking a leading underwear manufacturer to withdraw a nationwide poster campaign for thongs because it was degrading to women.

The Advertisement Verification Bureau (BVP) demanded that Sloggi scrap the picture of three young women writhing in minuscule, multicoloured G-strings as if in a strip club, saying the campaign, which has drawn complaints from across Europe, was unacceptably sexist and not in keeping with a recent drive by the in dustry to clean up its act. The BVP is made up of agency representatives and big advertisers. Its recommendations have no legal force.

A BVP spokesman said: "We have criticised ads in the past, but I can't remember us calling for one to be taken down altogether for this reason."

The Sloggi campaign appears less outrageous than others that have passed all but unnoticed in France - where bare breasts, erotic poses and blatantly sexist slogans are still considered an acceptable way to promote anything from fruit yoghurt to financial services.

But Sloggi's explicit thong ad has coincided with a heated de bate on whether girls should be barred from wearing the fashion accessory of the moment to school. A former socialist education minister Segolene Royal said last week she feared "le string" could encourage child sex abuse. In principle, French state school pupils can wear what they like within the bounds of decency. But at least one head teacher sparked a near-riot last week by attempting to ban girls from wearing thongs that emerged above the waistband of their trousers.

Ms Royal and other socialist MPs called on Sloggi to withdraw its campaign on the grounds that it was harmful and "an insult to women".

The company, which has seen the posters in its latest European campaign defaced in Germany and is the target of formal complaints in Switzerland, made no comment on the French decision yesterday.

Its marketing director, Peter Triner, told a Swiss weekly last week that in terms of sales, the ad had been "a big success".