A steamy new car ad featuring a lesbian bedroom scene has been yanked from Italian airwaves, the Daily Mail is reporting.
Aimed at promoting the new Renault Twingo, the controversial commercial features two comely women, one blonde and one brunette, exchanging flirtatious glances at a cocktail party before trailing off to a bedroom. The brunette teasingly strips down to black lingerie while the blonde blindfolds her with a silk stocking.
Though the ad has incensed some local gay groups, others object to the fact the car barely gets a mention amidst the provocative imagery. "Is it controversial or cutting edge? At no point during the advert is any technical aspect of the new Renault Twingo ever mentioned," the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera wrote. State TV RAI and Mediaset, headed by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, have thus far refused to air the ad, with Sky being the only broadcaster keeping it in rotation.
The ad's creators are heartily defending their work. "We wanted to create an advert that was original, enjoyable and at the same time not vulgar, and I believe we have achieved that," Daniele Tranchini of the Milan-based Publicis is quoted by the Telegraph as saying.
Watch the full ad here: