Intimates Advert Causes More Than A Stir

What do you get when you show a beautiful woman in sexy lingerie caressing a set of carving knives? The answer is the new television advertising campaign for supermodel Elle Macpherson's Intimates lingerie range.

If that isn't racy enough, in the advert the same knife-caressing-model wears a silk gown and kneels down on the kitchen floor to mop up a pool of blood.

Huge controversy has already been generated since the advert, which aired on Australia television last month, caused a flood of complaints. Campaign groups in London have spoken out also, stating: "These kinds of images normalise the view of women as sex objects, and the fact that knives are included is very serious indeed. Combining implied violence with sexual imagery makes for very uncomfortable viewing. This can have a tremendously negative impact on young people and vulnerable adults and is not the sort of thing we should wish to propagate on national TV."

However, a spokeswoman for Elle Macpherson Intimates insisted the campaign was a tribute to film noir. "They aren't graphically violent, it's just a suggestion - you are actively invited to come to your own conclusion about what is going on." Curious viewers are also, it transpires, invited to log on to the campaign's website, www. intimates. tv, where the mystery is solved - with a film of two scantily-clad women fighting with knives.

The advertisements are shot by internationally renowned fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti, whose previous advertising campaigns include Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni and Yves Saint Laurent.