The French government has been ridiculed for producing a poster that is supposed to help identify potential jihadists - with one suggestion that giving up baguettes is a telltale sign.

They claim pointers that someone is being radicalised by Islamist fanatics include alarm bells such as losing interest in sports, rejecting members of their family and changing eating habits.

The poster was launched as part of a new £320million campaign to counter terrorism in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in early January, when 17 innocent people were killed over three days.

But the attempt to inform the public backfired, with many ridiculing it for some of the suggestions made in the Stop Jihadism poster.

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Warning: the French government infographic offers nine telltale signs to worried parents

On Twitter, one user wrote: 'The government invites you to be wary of those who do not eat baguettes.'

And another added: 'French parents: if your kids stop eating baguette they're basically halfway to jihad.'

The ad is titled: 'Jihadist radicalisation - the first warning signs.'

The poster has a total of nine pictograms, with the crossed-out baguette featuring the caption: 'They're changing their eating habits'.

A figure of a swimmer with a cross is superimposed with the phrase: 'They're stopping sports.' The ad provides a hotline to call to identify people suspected of radicalisation to the authorities.

Other advice offered is more obvious, with people being told to be aware if their friends or family are visiting extremist websites or social media accounts, becoming removed from old friends as they now consider them 'impure' and stopping listening to popular music.

A change in wardrobe towards more traditional Islamic garments, quitting school or work and stopping watching television are other warning signs that are flagged up.

Part of the campaign reads: 'To recruit teens and young adults, boys and girls, terrorist groups are also using real technical mental manipulation. It is this strategy that can resemble recruitment to a form of sectarian indoctrination.

'These manipulation techniques aim to get these young people to gradually reject their environment to isolate them, put them under the authority of the radical discourse and convince them.'

Evil: Brothers Said (left) and Cherif Kouachi (right), who killed 12 people in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in central Paris. The pair then died following a siege

Defiant: An aerial view taken on January 11 shows people attending the Unity rally Marche Republicaine at the Place de la Republique in Paris in tribute to the 17 victims of a three-day killing spree by homegrown Islamists

Je Suis Charlie: The satirical magazine was targeted because of it frequently published cartoons about Islam

On January 7, France was gripped by terror when radicalised brothers Said and Cherif Kourachi stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in central Paris and killed 12 people.

The next day, their associate Amedy Coulibaly shot and killed a policewoman, before then taking hostages in a kosher supermarket the day after. There, he killed a further four people before being gunned down when police stormed the building.

Since then, the country has remained on high alert with armed soldiers guarding places of worship and schools across the country.