BERLIN — As he held up one of the new posters about the importance of wearing a helmet when cycling, the German transport minister said the safety campaign was intended to draw attention.

“It’s all about getting noticed,” the minister, Andreas Scheuer, said at the official unveiling last week.

The posters have certainly achieved that. The focus has not been on the helmets, though, but rather on the lack of other clothing worn by the models, who are pictured in their underwear, and on the language used, which many consider vulgar.

“Embarrassing, stale and sexist,” was how one lawmaker described the campaign.

“Half-naked women and men should not be put onto posters at taxpayers’ expense,” the lawmaker, Katja Mast, told the German daily Passauer Neue Presse.