Cosmetics company Lush has said it has taken its controversial campaign down from some shops due to "intimidation" of its staff by ex-police officers.

The company sparked outrage over its latest ad campaign that claimed police have been "paid to lie".

Lush said it would continue with the SpyCops campaign even despite not feeling "able" to have it in the windows of some of their shops.

"Whilst intimidation of our shop staff from ex-police officers and unhelpful tweets from those in high office are ongoing, not all of our shops feel able today to have the campaign window in their shops," it said in a statement.

"However the campaign is still running for three weeks and we will be constantly weighing up what to do about the situation."


Outrage over Lush ad campaign as cosmetics firm claims police are 'paid to lie'

The Poole-based firm said on Friday that the campaign "aims to highlight the current lack of progress of the Undercover Policing Inquiry and the granting of anonymity to key police witnesses".

Display windows of its stores have been decorated with police tape, stating: "Police have crossed the line."

A split image of a man, one half with a police helmet on, another without the helmet, has the tagline "paid to lie".

The company also released a video saying that activists had been "spied on for taking a stand".

Lush faced backlash on social media over the campaign, while the Police Federation called it "an insult to the hard work, professionalism and dedication of police officers throughout the UK".

Some customers said they would stop shopping at Lush as a result, while social media users described the shop windows as "misjudged and offensive" for "vilifying a public service".

John Duncan tweeted that the campaign was "misguided at best, nasty at worst".

More than 30 complaints were submitted to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the campaign.

A spokeswoman for the SpyCops campaign said it had been "taken completely out of context" and they were not accusing police of lying.

An inquiry into undercover policing, launched in 2015, is looking at the work of the Special Demonstration Squad, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit and police forces across England and Wales.

It is expected to begin hearing evidence next year, and will continue to do so for around two years.