The retail provider of an outdoor gym beside an Edmonton elementary school is coming under fire after their QR code led at least one parent to a pornographic website.

While her kids played nearby, Kathy Meyer was hoping to learn more about how to use the outdoor gym located next to Edmonton's St. Martha Catholic Elementary School.

A sign at the park provided a few photos and instructions on how to use the equipment, along with a QR code. The use of QR codes has become increasingly common for businesses. The code -- a small combination of black and white squares -- acts as a barcode that can be scanned using the camera of a mobile device, often linking to the company's website or social media profile.

"So I scanned [it,] and big surprise: it was a pornographic website," Meyer told CTV Edmonton.

Meyer said she couldn't believe her eyes at first.

"I checked it again and was like, definitely, the QR code is going to the wrong place," she said.

The sign with the QR code also provided a web address to the manufacturer's official website, NorwellOutdoorFitness.com, but when viewed on a mobile device, the QR code leads to a different domain with a similar name.

Although Norwell Outdoor Fitness once owned the website linked to the QR code, it appears the domain no longer belongs to the retailer. On April 5, 2018, the web address was purchased by a third party.

Steve Chattargoon, digital media chair of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, told CTV Edmonton that there's a valuable lesson to be learned for companies when purchasing web addresses: "As a business, [you should] buy your website domains for a long time."

Edmonton Catholic School District spokesperson Lori Nagy told CTV Edmonton that the sign was removed on Saturday afternoon. But by the time it was taken down, there's no telling how many parents and kids might have seen it.

"We know for a fact when the playground equipment was put up several years ago, that the website and the QR code went to the manufacturer's information," Nagy said, adding that CTV Edmonton's inquiry into the QR code was the first the school board had heard of the problem.

Nagy sent local parents an email explaining the situation with mention that maintenance staff were working to fix the problem.

With a report from CTV Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson