Unilever was behind two of the 10 most complained about ads last year, according to a report from advertising watchdog ASA.

The TV and poster ads - for Lynx deodorant and Lynx shower gel - generated hundreds of complaints from viewers.

The first Lynx ad showed a woman under an outdoor shower clasping an undone bikini against her chest. The ad used the strapline “The cleaner you are, the dirtier you get”.

The ASA only partly upheld the 114 complaints, but banned the ad from being shown again.

The second ad, for Lynx deodorant, was a parody of the Noah’s Ark story and generated 214 complaints from people who felt it upset children with its ‘end of the world’ theme, mocked the Christian faith and was demeaning to women.

The ASA threw out the complaints, ruling that while the ad was not to everyone’s taste, it would not cause serious offence.

Neither ad was found by the ASA to be in breach of the advertising code. “Just because an ad gets lots of complaints, it doesn’t mean it’s in breach of the code,” said a spokesman for the ASA.

“The bikini-clad woman ad was only partly upheld because we have tightened up our code since the Bailey review into outdoor advertising, so a lot of advertisers are on a learning curve.”

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