A Chinese sex toy company has been fined after a former porn star representing the firm wore a red scarf usually seen on youngsters in a Communist youth organisation.

Shanghai Zhenhai Industrial Limited Company, which sells male sex products, was slapped with a 1.3 million yuan (£147,878) fine for ‘improper use’ of the neckerchief, China Daily reports.

The red scarf is usually worn by youngsters from the Young Pioneers of China, run by the Communist Youth League, and is seen as emblematic of blood of revolutionary martyrs.

The fine handed to the company is the highest among similar incidents in China, according to China Daily.

In July this year, Shanghai Zhenhai reportedly invited former adult actress Sola Aoi to a benefit event in southwest China's Yunnan province to raise money for impoverished schoolchildren.

Japanese actress Sola Aoi poses for photographers on the red carpet upon her arrival for the opening ceremony of the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival in Tokyo on October 22, 2015. (AFP/Getty Images)

Images later emerged of her wearing a red scarf at the event, sparking an outcry.

Shanghai Zhenhai later released a statement apologising.

China passed a law on 1 May making it illegal to attack revolutionary heroes and martyrs.

The Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law bans ‘activities that defame heroes and martyrs or distort and diminish their deeds’.