An ice cream advert that showed a priest and a nun in a "seductive pose" has been banned after official complaints were made against it.
The couple were dressed in religious attire posing to kiss each other as they share a tub of ice cream in the commercial.
It attracted 10 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after appearing in the Delicious Magazine and Sainsbury's Magazine.
But ice cream manufacturer Antonio Federici said their campaign was intended to portray the "forbidden Italian temptations" of their Gelato Italiano brand.
It said the ad, along with the others in the campaign, was intended as a "light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek portrayal".
The firm added it thought there was nothing that would cause "serious or widespread offence".
But readers disagreed, arguing the suggestion of a kiss between a priest and a nun was offensive, especially to people who followed a "religious vocation".
The ASA upheld the complaints and has now banned the ad from future publication.
The watchdog said: "The ad stated 'kiss temptation' and the pair were portrayed in a seductive pose, as if they were about to kiss passionately.
"We considered that the portrayal of the priest and nun in a sexualised manner - and the implication that they were considering whether or not to give in to temptation - was likely to cause serious offence to some readers."
Seven Squared Publishing, who published the titles, told the ASA it felt the material was unlikely to offend their readers, aged between 25 and 55.
However, the publisher apologised for any offence caused and said they would not re-use the ads.
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