A "SEXIST" advert for Tunnock's Tea Cakes featuring a tennis player holding one of the popular Scottish snacks on her thigh has been banned following just one complaint.

Watchdogs ruled the "demeaning" poster - with the words 'where do you keep yours?' and 'serve up a treat' - was "likely to cause cause serious offence to some consumers".

An investigation was triggered when the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a single complaint about the poster in November.

The complaint challenged whether the ad was "offensive" and "irresponsible" because they believed it was "sexist" and "objectified women".

The firm said the ad appeared on a poster site next to the SEC Hydro Arena in Glasgow to coincide with a charity tennis match involving Andy Murray and Roger Federer, and was created with a tennis audience in mind.

Tunnock's said the "creative execution and placement" of the teacakes were a substitute to the normal placement of tennis balls and that they were not placed in an abnormal position.

The firm stated they did not intend to offend anyone, no other complaints were received about the ad.

But the ASA found the ad to be in breach of rules regarding 'social responsibility' plus 'harm and offence' and banned it from being used again.

An ASA spokesman said: "We noted the ad depicted a woman lifting her tennis skirt while holding a tea cake beside her hip, in place of where a tennis ball would usually be held, with her bare thigh exposed and her underwear clearly visible.

"While we acknowledged the ad was placed opposite an arena hosting a tennis match, we considered it nevertheless bore no relevance to the advertised product.

"We considered the phrase 'serve up a treat' would be understood to be a double entendre, implying the woman featured in the ad was the 'treat', and considered this was likely to be viewed as demeaning towards women.

"We considered that although the image was only mildly sexual in nature, when combined with the phrase 'serve up a treat' it had the effect of objectifying women by using a woman's physical features to draw attention to the ad."

He added: "In light of those factors, we concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence to some consumers and was socially irresponsible.

"The ad must not appear in its current form. We told Thomas Tunnock Ltd to ensure their advertising was socially responsible and did not cause serious offence by objectifying women."