Story highlights A bus company's attempt to lure a young crowd has backfired

The company issued a statement saying they will remove the adverts within 24 hours

(CNN) An advertising attempt by a bus company to lure a young crowd has backfired, with social media users sharing it for all the wrong reasons.

New Adventure Travel Limited (NAT Group), based in South Wales, United Kingdom, plastered an advert on the back of their buses which showed a semi-clad woman holding a sign that read: "Ride me all day for £3 ($4.7)."

@NAT_Group bus in Cardiff is vile. Women face enough harassment on busses without use of sexually explicit language. pic.twitter.com/hxsM8AihIm — Xavier B (@Jxlb1) May 11, 2015

The same advert promoting the firm's low-cost fares also featured a half-naked male model, but some argued that reactions to it were markedly different.

Don't worry men, your bodies aren't immune from the sexualisation of @NAT_group either! Terrible marketing. pic.twitter.com/24KHF6LcIz — Vicky Chandler (@VickyChandler) May 11, 2015

Oh, by the way - it seems that there is zero outrage at this advert from @NAT_Group. pic.twitter.com/yMmX6IbhND — Joe's Kitchen (@FriedChickenLDN) May 11, 2015

A few did see the funny side and even congratulated the company on drawing attention to themselves.

Huge congrats to @NAT_Group who's advertising campaign has done exactly what it was designed to. Everyone is talking about it! Kudos — Mark Denholm (@markdenholm) May 11, 2015

The company issued a statement that said: "Firstly we have stated that our objectives have been to make catching the bus attractive to the younger generation...

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