After a French children's book which set out to remove stigma around nudity by featuring drawings of everyday people getting undressed drew the ire of France's UMP party, a group of publishers and booksellers decided to register their displeasure – by posing naked.

Jean-François Copé appeared on television earlier this month to denounce Tous à Poil, a children's picture book in which characters including a policeman and a school teacher are shown getting undressed, and naked, before plunging into the sea. The authors, Claire Franek and Marc Daniau, wrote it to take the shame out of being naked. "If you think about it, whether you're a baby, a doctor or a baker … we all have buttocks, a tummy button, genitals and even moles," they have said. "With this book, we therefore decided to take an uninhibited look at nudity."

But Copé, president of France's centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire party, said that when he saw the book, he was outraged. "My heart missed a beat," he said in an interview. "A naked teacher … isn't that great for teachers' authority! We don't know whether or not to smile, but as it is for our children, we don't feel like smiling. A naked baby, a naked babysitter, naked neighbours, a naked granny, a naked dog …" he went on.

His comments backfired, sending the book racing to the top of bestseller lists in France, according to Le Monde, and drawing widespread condemnation, with minister for education Vincent Peillon calling Copé a "spokesperson for extremist groups", the French press reported.

The most eye-catching response, however, came from a group of French booksellers and publishers, who decided to pose nude, apart from strategically placed books, in protest at Copé's remarks. "Tous à poil contre la censure!", or "everyone naked against censorship", they said as they revealed their pose. "Naked to show our support for authors and books which have been unjustly attacked."

"Naked to support those works which open imaginations, widen horizons and debates," they continued, adding: "the book should not be the target of intolerance – it allows all citizens the possibility of having an informed look at today's society, and the world of tomorrow."