A Chanel advert featuring actress Keira Knightley has been banned during children's programming after a watchdog ruled its sexually suggestive content was unsuitable for younger viewers.

The television campaign for the perfume Coco Mademoiselle showed Knightley being photographed on a bed and the photographer unzipping her clothes before she was shown dressed only in a bed sheet and crawling towards him before lying back.

The ad was cleared without a scheduling restriction but a viewer, who saw it during the children's film Ice Age 2, complained that it was unsuitable for screening during the movie because it was overtly sexual.

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Chanel said the ad appeared during the day, and Ice Age 2 was chosen because it included sharp humour and involved recognised celebrities as voice actors which gave it an appeal to adults.

The company said a degree of sexual charge was common in perfume ads, but while Knightley's character was playful and sensual she was not overtly sexual.

It believed the ad was not unsuitable for children and that it was therefore scheduled appropriately.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the ad involved sexually suggestive content, noting that Ice Age 2 was of particular appeal to children.

It said: “We considered the ad was suitable for older children, but that the sexually suggestive material was unsuitable for young children. We therefore concluded that the ad was inappropriately scheduled and an ex-kids restriction should have been applied to prevent the ad from being broadcast in or around children's programming.”

It ruled that the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form in or around programmes of particular appeal to children.

For more pictures of banned sexually suggestive perfume ads click here or on "view gallery".

PA