Virgin Mobile US has pulled an advert that seemingly made light of rape after Sir Richard Branson slammed the online commercial as "ill-judged" and "a dreadful mistake".

The offending ad depicted a man holding a gift while shielding the eyes of a woman, an accompanying caption asks: "The gift of Christmas surprise. Necklace? Or chloroform?"

Reference to the anaesthetic, and the implication of it being used to render attack victims unconscious, were immediately attacked on Twitter, with some posters alerting Branson to the ad.

"This advert is a disgrace. The suggestion of violence is not funny and perpetuates misogyny," wrote Carolyn Leckie.

"@virginmobileus u think normalisation of rape or violence is funny?," another Tweeter asked, adding: "@richardbranson have u seen this?"

Branson had indeed seen the advert. And despite not owning the company – Virgin Mobile USA was bought by communications giant Sprint Nextel in 2009 – the entrepreneur made his views known to those responsible.

In a post on the Virgin group website, Branson wrote: "Having just seen, for the first time, the Virgin Mobile US advert which has upset many today, I agree it is ill-judged.

"Although I don't own the company, it carries our brand. I will speak to the team there, make my thoughts clear and see what can be done about it."

He added: "Virgin Mobile US usually get these things right, although on this occasion it is clear they have gone too far."

In an update to the post, Branson confirmed that the people behind the ad had acknowledged that "a dreadful mistake was made" and had agreed to remove the advert within the hour, "never to be seen again".

A spokeswoman for Virgin Mobile USA said: "This image was not approved by Virgin Mobile USA. We apologise deeply to anyone who has been offended by this posting. It was removed early this morning."