Ryanair's controversial 'Red Hot Fares & Crew' adverts banned

Budget airline Ryanair has had a 'sexist' advertising campaign, which 'objectified' women, banned by a consumer watchdog.

The promotion, which showed a scantily-clad model in lingerie along with the headline 'Red Hot Fares & Crew', sparked a string of complaints with one flight attendant claiming it portrayed cabin crew as glamour models.

The move to ban the campaign comes after thousands of people backed calls for the promotion to be axed.

Promotion: Ryanair used images from its charity calendar in a national advertising campaign

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) concluded the adverts were likely to cause 'widespread offence'.

It said one image, entitled 'Ornella February', which showed a model pulling down the top of her underwear with a thumb, was particularly 'sexually suggestive'.

Banned: The ASA ruled against adverts featuring cabin crew which appeared in several national newspapers

Ryanair, no stranger to controversy, said the promotion featured shots taken from its 2012 cabin crew charity calendar.

It said the ads - featured in national newspapers - were done to 'promote its 2012 cabin crew charity calendar' and that it did not consider them to be 'offensive or unsuitable for public display'.

However the ASA said: 'We also considered that most readers would interpret these images, in conjunction with the text "Red Hot Fares & Crew!!!" and the names of the women, as linking female cabin crew with sexually suggestive behaviour.

'Although we acknowledged that the women in the ads had consented to appear in the calendar, we considered that the ads were likely to cause widespread offence, when displayed in a national newspaper.'

The promotion caused a furore when it was launched last year and more than 5,000 people lent their support to the online campaign, led by a flight attendant called Ghada. 

Source: Daily Mail